Irving Wardle

Who is Irving Wardle?

John Irving Wardle is an English writer and theatre critic.

He was born on 20 July 1929 in Manchester, Lancashire, the son of John Wardle and his wife Nellie. 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, the future directors John Schlesinger and Bill Gaskill, and Mary Moore, the future principal of St Hilda's College, Oxford.

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 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 and The Oldie.

He has published two books, a biography The Theatres of George Devine and Theatre Criticism.