One of this generation's truly great dramatic actresses appearing in the Boston staging of "The Damask Cheek," Flora Robson, the dynamic English actress whose flaming intensity and superb technique have made her dramatic roles great creations, turns to comedy for the first time, and does in beautifully.

"The Damask Cheek" was written especially for the star by John Van Druten, who wrote "Old Acquaintace" and who is a master of the art of gently delineating the foibles of women. To recount the plot would be like dissecting a cobweb. It is enough to say that it concerns a rich and charming but unmarried Englishwoman who is sent to America in 1909 to find herself a husband. The resulting play is frankly nothing but a pleasant comedy of manners. It makes no pretensions to anything but amusement, and it goes about it in a pleasant, slow-paced, and literate manner that is a pleasant change from the frantic modern comedies which infest our stage. The handsome set and the almost perfect cast are bathed in the romantic golden glow of The Good Old Days. "The Damask Check" intends to divert it and it succeeds admirably.

Van Druten's deft writing and direction have combined with the meticulous producing of Dwight Decre Wiman and the flawless acting of Flora Robson and the unusually good supporting cast to make a production that is an exercise in technical excellence. Miss Robson, displaying again her complete mastery of her art, is perfect as the English spinster; she is so good that even Jane Austen would probably approve of her. Margaret Dougless is outstanding as an overbearing matron, and Celeste Holm is very good as a breezy actress. Definite ornaments to the cast are a handsome and promising juvenile, Peter Fernandez, and a delightful young lady named Joan Tetzel who, as a coltish adolescent, is quite the most lovely and refreshing thing that Boston has seen in months.

In other hands "The Damask Check" might be coy and cute. It is not. It might be patronizing, heavy, and dull. It is not. It might be warn, humorous, graceful, and satisfying. It is.