Leading dramatic critic of his time, J. C. Trewin, has here assembled many of his articles and notices in what he calls "a notebook of the theatre." Shakespeare is plainly his first enthusiasm, but he will write with relish and urbanity on any theatrical subject from the art of Sid Field to a Priestley play in a Welsh miners' hall, or from Shaw to straws-in-the-hair farce or the ways of Ruritania. Indeed one of the features of this book is its range. The author will go anywhere to hear a play or, for that matter, any form of stage entertainment. Robert Lynd has described him as "a critic who, having experienced and satisfied a hunger and thirst for fine acting, can awaken the same happy cravings in others."

Author Biography

J.C.Trewin was a British journalist, drama critic and theatrical historian. His parents were Cornish, but he was born in Plymouth in 1908 and brought up in Cornwall. Educated at Plymouth College, his first job was as a cub reporter on the city's Sunday newspaper, the Western Independent, in 1926. After six years he left for London and joined the Morning Post as a reporter and drama critic. On the paper's closure in 1937 he moved to The Observer, doubling as a drama critic and later as literary editor. From the early 1950s he concentrated on the theatre, working for a number of publications including Punch, the Listener, the Birmingham Post, the Illustrated London News and The Lady. He wrote some forty books of theatre history and was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1981. He died in 1990. He is memorialised by the British Critics' Circle in an award that bears his name (and that of his wife, Wendy) for the best Shakespearean performance of the year.