The Stage

Benedict Nightingale to retire as The Times’ chief theatre critic

Published Tuesday 26 January 2010 at 10:00 by Alistair Smith

Benedict Nightingale has announced that he is to step down as chief theatre critic for The Times at the end of May.

Nightingale, who joined the paper as a critic in 1990, is to be replaced by Libby Purves, who will start in her role on June 1. Nightingale will continue as a contributor to the paper.

James Harding, editor of The Times, said: “Benedict has been the leading theatre critic of his generation and has written for The Times for 20 years, setting the standard by which the great performances and productions are judged.

“People onstage, backstage and in the audience have come to trust his every observation and judgement delivered with style, humour and passion.

“Benedict has ensured that Times readers have the best writing on what has been a golden age for British theatre and he will remain a contributor to the paper.”

Nightingale himself said he had “mixed feelings” about stepping down and hoped to continue writing “pretty regularly” for both The Times and other publications.

He added: “I wrote my first review in 1957 - a production by the Hawkenbury Players that led to a complaint to the editor of the Kent and Sussex Courier and Tunbridge Wells Advertiser - and will find the habit of going regularly to the theatre and writing about it hard to give up.

“However, I did tell the Times at the beginning of 2008 that I wished to stop chief-criticking at the end of 2009, and it will be terrific not to have to rush out of the theatre to do quick-fire reviews for the next morning’s paper, sometimes so rapidly that I end up doing them in the half-light in my car.”