PLAYGOER

"Peepshow," the new sophisticated comedy by Ernest Pascal, is a much better show than it has any right to be. Excellent performances by a cast including John Emery and his wife, Tamara Geva, put the show over and make it second only to "Mexican Hayride" as the best entertainment in the city.

When the playgoer comes into the theatre and sees the first two characters on his program (the protagonist and his conscience) he draws a deep breath and prays. There is no artifice so flimsy as the conscience-on-the-stage gag, or one so easily collapsible if poorly done. That the show comes over as well as it does is due to a large extent to a new young actor who plays the conscience--David Wayne.

Wayne, you see, is both the actor and the audience. He dresses and acts like Emery, and his actions occasionally parallel those of the lead, but he also laughs quietly at the whole action. Without Wayne the show might flop; with Wayne's superlative acting, especially in the second scene of the first act and the last scene of the play, it is bound to be a hit.

The situation is the old triangle: man engaged to girl makes love to his best friend's wife (or his best friend's wife makes love to him) with the usual complications. Only this time, somehow, it's better--a great deal better.