A critical reception

This week I’ve been finding interesting correspondence between Peggy and the broadsheet theatre critics: Peggy’s typical response to a negative review being to write an argumentative letter back. This correspondence with critics is largely to be found in the client files, though some critics also appear in the series of general correspondence. Harold Hobson’s name comes up most frequently and others include Michael Billington at the Guardian, John Barber and Eric Shorter at the Daily Telegraph, Milton Shulman at the Evening Standard and Nicholas de Jongh (who was also a client).

 

Hobson was often an ally to whom Peggy appealed when she was particularly passionate about a play –Waiting for Godot being the most famous example. On another occasion she shows her displeasure with Hobson, worrying about the impact of a review of Christopher Hampton’s Treats. ‘Racine gave up after the attack on Phèdre’ she scrawled in red at the bottom of Hobson’s letter. ’12 yrs silence.’

 

In 1985 she writes to Eric Shorter, countering his view that David Hare’s work at the National was self-indulgent by comparing it to Pinter and Stoppard’s output. There is also fascinating correspondence with Shulman where she argues that the lack of an authoritative Evening Standard review has scuppered chances of a West End transfer. What the archive shows is that Peggy saw a play’s critical reception as being make-or-break to her clients’ careers – both in terms of gaining financial backing and in the psychological effect on authors.