The news arrived by e-mail yesterday morning: the editor of The Stage, Brian Attwood, wrote to staff and contributors, “There is no easy way to put this. Sadly, Peter Hepple died last night in his sleep. It’s a huge loss to all of us who had the pleasure and the benefit of knowing him and of course to The Stage, to which he made such a key contribution for so many years.”
I have never known The Stage without him. When I first started reading it in 1979, he was, of course, its esteemed and prolific editor (a post he held for some 20 years), and his by-line and personality was all over it. Later, as he held the role of The Stage’s principal West End critic and became a colleague and a friend whom I would see, sometimes but not always with his wife Josie beside him, at first nights all the time, I came to value his warmth and especially his acerbic wit.
It is difficult to imagine the paper without him. Absolutely one-of-a-kind, he had a passion for journalism and the theatre industry rooted in an affection for being there every night. He died on Wednesday night and was in the office only the day before. When I ran into a West End press agent yesterday, she told me that Peter reviewing a show that she was handling next week; I had to tell her the news that Peter would not, after all, be there. But I know he will be there in spirit – he never missed an opening if he could help it.
But there is no funnier tribute to him that I could imagine that more perfectly captures his essence than the description Michael Coveney offers in his out-of-publication 1994 diary, The Aisle is Full of Noises: he meets Barry Cryer on a Edinburgh Fringe chat show hosted by Ned Sherrin, and he reminds Barry “that the last (and indeed first) time we met was at a retirement lunch in the Savoy for Peter Hepple…. I try out my Peter Hepple impersonation on him, he replies with an even better one, and we indulge for a few moments of celebratory Hepple-itis, scrunching our noses and shoulders, and intoning slowly our preference for a mediocre night of entertainment at the Rat and Vole Niterie, Thanet, over the prospect of a new play in the Cottesloe or the Bush. One or two people steal a pitying glance at two madmen apparently engaged in some terrible, argumentative ritual.”
Petter hepple reviewed me many times in my career.l. he said i was one of the most famous undiscovered stars in the bizz..... he was one of the critics i looked up to most in my career, and I was lucky to meet him after many years, at Blackpool this summer 2006. It is certainly the passing of an era, and he will be sorely missed. his expertise was legendary and my condolences go to his family x
It has been my Privilege & Pleasure to have known you for the past fifteen years and may I say what a massive loss to our industry your passing will be. Now I guess I’ll never know how you managed to write and publish such accurate articles without ever writing anything down. How did he do that!?
I have now had to draft this tribute to peter twice. Once on Saturday - after reading the Telegraph's obituary and again this morning - after reading the Times
together they give a really fine, well rounded portrait of one of the more amazing 'back stage' figures in post WWII British theatre
The Times was especially good on noting his diligent perspective and (especially) wide ranging interest( and we shall ave to use that dreaded word - scolarly circles of all aspects of show-business of which he sensibly saw drama, opera and ballet as being an integral part- rather than esoteric interests for the cogniscenti.
When the history of the theatre in britain in the second - half of the Twentieth Century is properly documented it will undoubtedly that peter's contribution ( almost entirely in The Stage) along with that of eric Johns and kenneth hurren give a much sounder and truer picture of it as a whole, than all the other more famous critics and historians ( especially those in state-sponsored ivory towers of learning) combined.
It is to be hoped that at least some of his knowledge of showbusiness ( not recorded in the Stage) has been preserved and not lost following his far too early death.
Some years ago I discovered "The Stage" online. I contacted the newspaper. Imagine my surprize when I received an email from Peter Hepple asking if I was the same Steve Arlen who was at the Talk of the Town and the Prince of Wales Theare back in the '50's and what was I 'up to now' !
Peter was always very kind to me in my UK days and I will miss him, his kindness and his work. His is an irreplaceable loss.
On the few occasions when I had the pleasure of chatting to Peter I was astonished at his encyclopaedic knowledge of showbusiness past and present. He had his finger on the entertainment pulse more thoroughly than anyone I can think of, and this always showed in his writing. His intimate attention to detail combined with an acute grasp of the overall picture made every article an enlightenment. If only there were more in his mould - irreplaceable is indeed the word that springs to mind.