A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
Trafalgar Studios, London

The Man in the White Suit
Wyndham’s theatre, London

Playwright Peter Nichols, who died last month aged 92, presented himself, in interviews and his memoirs, as a forgotten figure. He was certainly neglected latterly – no new play was staged at a major theatre in the last 32 years of his life – but was much luckier than many more continuously prolific writers with revivals. There are regular high-profile productions of Privates on Parade (1977), Passion Play (1981), and A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1967), of which the latest staging becomes Nichols’ memorial.

The frequently autobiographical dramatist was drawing, in this case, on the experience of having a daughter born with such severe cerebral palsy that she spent most of her short life in hospitals or homes. In the sixties, this might plausibly have been material for a solemnly documentary Wednesday Play on TV, but Nichols boldly transformed the family story into a theatrical comedy filled with non-naturalistic devices such as interactive monologues from characters who know that they are in a play and we are watching them.