Heilpern, John

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Heilpern, John

PERSONAL:

Born in Manchester, England. Education: Attended Oxford University.

ADDRESSES:

Home—New York, NY.

CAREER:

Writer, journalist, and critic. Observer, London, England, former theatre critic; National Theatre, England, former dramaturge; New York Observer, theatre critic.

WRITINGS:

Conference of the Birds: The Story of Peter Brook in Africa, Faber & Faber (London, England), 1977, published as Conference of the Birds, Bobbs-Merrill (Indianapolis, IN), 1978, reprinted, Routledge (New York, NY), 1999.

(Author of profile) William Klein, Photographs, Etc.: New York and Rome, Also Moscow and Tokyo, Also Elsewhere, Aperture (New York, NY), 1981.

How Good Is David Mamet, Anyway? Writings on Theater and Why It Matters, Routledge (New York, NY), 2000.

John Osborne: The Many Lives of the Angry Young Man, Knopf (New York, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

In his first book, Conference of the Birds: The Story of Peter Brook in Africa, author and noted theatre critic John Heilpern writes of an unusual theatre project in which director Peter Brook gathered together a group of actors in 1972 to travel in the desert of Northwest Africa. The group's goal was to create a new type of theatre. His next book, How Good Is David Mamet, Anyway? Writings on Theater and Why It Matters, features many of Heilpern's essays and writings that previously appeared in publications such as the London Observer, Vanity Fair, and the New York Observer. "Heilpern is as erudite and sophisticated as you'd expect an Oxford man who worked under Peter Hall at the Royal National Theatre to be, but his greatest merit as a critic may be his refusal to let intelligence get in the way of enthusiasm," wrote Andrew O'Hehir on Salon.com. Many of the essays focus on the difference between American and British theatre, with the author often championing the cause of American theatre. "His comments are perceptive, enjoyable, and always lively," wrote Susan Peters in the Library Journal. Jack Helbig, writing in Booklist, noted the "well-researched, intelligently written profiles, most notably those of Arthur Miller and the English music hall performer Max Wall."

In John Osborne: The Many Lives of the Angry Young Man, Heilpern provides a biography of the British playwright, whose play Look Back in Anger is considered a seminal work that changed British theatre. In addition to being one of England's premier playwrights in the 1950s and 1960s, Osborne also wrote the screenplay for the hugely successful adaptation of the Henry Fielding novel Tom Jones. In his biography of Osborne, the author includes a look at Osborne's troubled private life, including his several marriages and his later ill health and financial difficulties. "Thanks to full access to Osborne's private notebooks, Heilpern presents an often disturbing portrait of a complex, emotionally beleaguered man," wrote June Sawyers in Booklist. Several critics praised the biography for its comprehensiveness. "His definitive biography rivets, especially the chapters describing British society and theater life," wrote Erica Swenson Danowitz in the Library Journal. Noting that Heilpern uses "a nonchronological, prismatic approach" in his biography of Osborne, a Publishers Weekly contributor went on to write that Heilpern "skillfully interweaves a wealth of excerpts from Osborne's letters and private journals."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Theatre, January, 2000, review of How Good Is David Mamet, Anyway? Writings on Theater and Why It Matters, p. 88.

Biography, spring, 2007, Ian Jack, review of John Osborne: The Many Lives of the Angry Young Man.

Booklist, November 1, 1999, Jack Helbig, review of How Good Is David Mamet, Anyway?, p. 503; January 1, 2007, June Sawyers, review of John Osborne, p. 41.

Horn Book, June, 1981, review of Conference of the Birds: The Story of Peter Brook in Africa, p. 348.

Library Journal, November 15, 1999, Susan L. Peters, review of How Good Is David Mamet, Anyway?, p. 71; February 1, 2007, Erica Swenson Danowitz, review of John Osborne, p. 72.

London Review of Books, July 20, 2006, David Edgar, "Stalking Out," p. 8.

New Theatre Quarterly, May, 1990, Derek Paget, review of Conference of the Birds, p. 194.

New York Times Book Review, January 28, 2007, Ian Jack, "Coming-of-Rage," p. 16.

Philadelphia Inquirer, March 7, 2007, Frank Wilson, review of John Osborne.

Publishers Weekly, November 27, 2006, review of John Osborne, p. 44.

Spectator, May 6, 2006, Ferdinand Mount, "Looking Back in Judgment."

Times Higher Education Supplement, August 25, 2006, Duncan Wu, "Biscuits and Coffee, but the Angry Young Man Is Absent," p. 24.

Times Literary Supplement, June 23, 2006, John Stokes, "A Voice to Fear: How an Indifferent Actor Became a Master of the Confessional," p. 3.

Weekly Standard, May 7, 2007, Edward Short, Edward Short "Mum's the Word; John Osborne's Rebellion Began in the Cradle."