PLAYS OF THREE DECADES

One of Thornton Wilder's Fifteen Chosen students in 1930 at the University of Chicago, Robert Ardrey (who later moved on to Africa, anthropology and The Territorial Imperative) is an exponent of the theatre engage. His Thunder Rock (""a play for desperate people"") first appeared in November 1939, hit the Phoney War in New York, the real one, and a response, in Britain; Jeb, 1946 he characterizes as a civil rights play twenty years before its time; Shadow of Heroes (triggered by the Hungarian Revolution), 1958, evidently secured the release of murdered Foreign Minister Rjak's widow. This, in the wave of new alliances between playwright and audience, Mr. Ardrey considers twenty years too late, looks toward a happier future beyond sensation and self-pity for this movement. The plays achieved some acclaim, Mr. Ardrey has since gained further recognition, and perhaps present publication will secure him an audience.