SOURCE: Carter, John. “The Theatre.” Spectator 165 (13 September 1940): p. 267.

In the following review, Carter critiques a production of The Infernal Machine performed at the Arts Theatre Club.

The name of Mr. Oliver Messel is printed as large as the author's. And however deplorable this may seem in principle, it must be confessed that the most satisfying memory of this performance is the décor. Mr. Messel shares with Berard the wonderful sense of colour and the modish neo-classicism which made Seventh Symphony and Symphonie Fantastique such a pleasure to the eye. Indeed, Oedipus's scene with the Spinx might have taken place only a few yards from the romantic desert in which Massine set Berlioz's Pastorale, and Jocasta's superb red, white and blue bedroom is surely only up one flight from the Ball.

Mr. Messel's scenery sometimes gets in the way of the actors (they have rather a lot of...