Peter Hepple was that rare kind of critic who gave our curious profession a good name. I must have sat behind, beside or in front of him in theatres for a quarter of a century about three nights a week, yet I always read his review in The Stage with amazement and amusement, far too often furious when he’d spotted something I’d missed. He never forgot that his first duty was to the audience and I especially loved him when he was writing about all the cruise Liners and showcases I’d somehow never come across. He looked lugubrious but never was - he retained until the end of his long working career that ability to be surprised and entertained in the unlikeliest places by the unlikeliest people. Unkindly and untruthfully, it is said that a good review in The Stage “means nothing”, a misapprehension dating from the long-gone days when all reviews there were automatically good. A good review from Peter meant a lot, as I know from my rare outings as a director and cabaret performer. Press nights are going to be a lot emptier without him.
Sheridan Morley
Drama critic, Daily Express
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