John Irving Wardle (born 20 July 1929) is an English writer and theatre critic.

Biography

Wardle was born on 20 July 1929 in Manchester, Lancashire, the son of John Wardle and his wife Nellie (Partington). His father was drama critic on the '' Bolton Evening News'', and a regular performer at the Bolton Little Theatre. Wardle was educated at Bolton School, Wadham College Oxford and the Royal College of Music. While at Oxford, Wardle participated in theatre, performing in a production of '' The Tempest'' alongside the actors Nigel Davenport and

Jack May Jack Wynne May (23 April 1922 – 19 September 1997) was an English actor. Early life and education May was born in 1922 in Henley-on-Thames, and was educated at Forest School in Walthamstow. After war service with the Royal Indian Navy in Bri ...

, the future directors John Schlesinger and

Bill Gaskill William "Bill" Gaskill (24 June 1930 – 4 February 2016) was a British theatre director who was "instrumental in creating a new sense of realism in the theatre". Described as "a champion of new writing", he was also noted for his productions of B ...

, and Mary Moore, the future principal of

St Hilda's College, Oxford St Hilda's College is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college is named after the Anglo-Saxon Saint, Hilda of Whitby and was founded in 1893 as a hall for women; it ...

. Wardle's early appointments included an anonymous fortnightly review spot on the ''Bolton Evening News'', beginning in 1958. He worked as a sub-editor on '' The Times Literary Supplement'', 1956–; as deputy theatre critic (to Kenneth Tynan) on '' The Observer'', 1959–63; drama critic for '' The Times'' 1963–89; editor of ''Gambit'' 1973–75; theatre critic for '' The Independent on Sunday'' 1989–95. More recently he has written articles for magazines such as ''

Prospect Prospect may refer to: General * Prospect (marketing), a marketing term describing a potential customer * Prospect (sports), any player whose rights are owned by a professional team, but who has yet to play a game for the team * Prospect (mining ...

'' and '' The Oldie''. He has published two books; a biography ''The Theatres of George Devine'' (Jonathan Cape, 1978) and ''Theatre Criticism'' (Routledge, 1992). His first play, ''The Houseboy'', was performed at the Open Space Theatre in 1973. The play is semi-autobiographical, based on Wardle's experience from a part-time job washing dishes at a London guest house. The production was directed by Charles Marowitz and the cast included Timothy West. A television production was made for ITV's ''Playhouse'' season and screened on 3 July 1982, directed by Christopher Hodson. The cast was

Stephen Garlick Stephen Garlick (born 7 July 1959) is a British actor best known as the voice of Jen in '' Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal''. His career has centered on film, television and radio. At the age of five he attended the famous Corona Academy stage s ...

, Geoffrey Palmer, Richard Pasco and Earl Rhodes. He was honoured in 2004 at the

Cairo International Festival of Experimental Theatre Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

. Wardle was a close friend of the writer

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanne ...

, for whose work he coined the phrase "comedies of menace". The two met after Wardle reviewed Pinter's "The Birthday Party" in 1958, and an impressed Pinter wrote to compliment him on his critical sensibility.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wardle, Irving 1929 births Living people Alumni of the Royal College of Music Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford British theatre critics People educated at Bolton School

External Links

Irving Wardle Collection
at the Harry Ransom Center