RD wrote: “I was fortunate to be able to enter these two plays in the Southwick Festival where they were both successful. Peter Shaffer, a writer with a keen sense of personality and character, has also the ability to convey humour and pathos in great depth. To present them as a double bill, the original intention of the author, gives me a great deal of pleasure.”
Review #1: The Private Ear and The Public Eye
Publication: Shoreham Herald
Publication Data: November 8 issue 1968 – page 2
Reviewer: F.S
Text Header: “Wick Theatre Company in double bill”
Text: Content
THE Wick Theatre Company, in presenting Peter Schaffer’s two plays, The Private Ear and The Public Eye, emulate past successes. The author’s insight into character and personality enables him to convey humour and pathos in these plays.
In The Private Ear we see three people. Ted, and extrovert go-ahead type; his friend Bob, an introvert, a little unsure of himself, and fond of classical music; and Doreen a girl he meets at a concert. The play is set in Bob’s bed-sitting room. He has invited Doreen to supper and has asked Ted to help him make the arrangements. Who finally makes out provides a sensitive and amusing play. Ross Workman as Ted, Raymond Hopper as Bob and Dale Wood as Doreen all give fine performances.
The Public Eye introduces us to Julian Christoforou, a private detective, played by Raymond Hopper. A chartered accountant, played by Jack Bingham, is suspicious of his wife Belinda, played by Pat Dodsworth Moss. The acting of all three in this humorous story is superb, and the final twist is one that can only be expected from a writer of the calibre of Peter Shaffer.
The plays, well produced by Ralph Dawes, have been entered for this year’s West Sussex full length drama festival. Miss Lyn Oxenford will give an adjudication after the performance tonight [Friday]. The two plays selected for the finals will be at Bognor Regis.
Review #2: The Private Ear and The Public Eye
Publication: Brighton & Hove Gazette
Publication Data: November 8 1968 issue – Amateur Drama
Reviewer: Thespis
Text Header: “RAYMOND SHINES IN A DOUBLE BILL”
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IN The Private Ear and The Public Eye, Peter Shaffer has written two sad little plays with a wealth of humour. The presentation of them by the Wick Theatre Company at the Barn Theatre, Southwick, with the final performances tonight and tomorrow does justice to the plays, and once again establishes Raymond Hopper as an actor of skill and sensitivity. Particularly it is this extreme sensitivity to tiny facets of mood that make his performances so well worth seeing.
As Bob in The Private Ear, the shy young man entertaining a girl for the first time and as Julian Cristoforou, the unconventional private detective in The Public Ear he gives performances of charm, ability and technical skill.
In the first play, Ross Workman as Ted, the brash extrovert with cruelty in his kindness, is excellent, as also is Dale Wood as Doreen, the rather dim little girl for whom Bob falls so heavily. This play, like the one which follows, is a team effort and all contribute equally to the successful whole.
In The Public Eye Charles Sidley, a chartered accountant [played by Jack Bingham] has engaged a private detective to check up on his wife Belinda [Pat Dodsworth Moss]. Jack Bingham is the insensitive conventional professional man absurd in his lack of perception, and is extremely well characterised. Pat Dodsworth Moss plays a wife bewildered by the widening gulf between them and desperately seeking something without quite knowing what it is. The three artists combine to present a coherent intelligent and, above all, sensitive piece of drama.
Production of both plays reflects great credit on Ralph Dawes who obviously worked in harmony with the casts. The plays were entered in the West Sussex Full Length Drama festival and will be adjudicated tonight by Miss Lyn Oxenford.
Tuesday’s audience was thin on the ground which means that a lot of people missed an opportunity of dramatic entertainment approaching its best.
Review #3: The Private Ear and The Public Eye
Publication: Brighton Herald
Publication Data: Unknown
Reviewer: P.B.
Text Header: “Southwick’s brilliant double bill”
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A young man called Raymond Hopper, who would probably deny the compliment, presents the nearest thing I have seen on the amateur stage to a completely satisfying performance in the Wick Theatre Company’s current production. His ability ranks high above average to say the least, and yet prominence doesn’t come easy in this talented Southwick group.
Their production this week [Tuesday to Saturday] is the brilliant double bill The Private Ear and The Public Eye, by Peter Shaffer. These two one-act plays of singular depth and feeling each have a cast of three. In the first Raymond Hopper is a young man isolated by his own rather remote philosophies who makes a tragically funny/sad botch up of entertaining a girl to dinner in his bed sitter.
Crash course
His mate [Ross Workman] helps out by cooking the meal and giving him a crash course in seduction, but being a kind of compulsive bird charmer he also chats up the girl, a reality of life which his host takes rather painfully. Ross Workman and the girl [Dale Wood] complement the play, Raymond Hopper, on the other hand, embraces it with polished understanding and sincerity.
In The Pubic Eye Hopper is a private detective described by the wife of the piece [Pat Dodsworth Moss] at one point as ‘goofy looking’. As if at the turn of a switch, Hopper changes into this eccentric rôle from his sympathetic, whimsical part in The Private Ear. Apart from anything else, this fellow is versatile. And very funny. In this play Jack Bingham and Miss Moss round off the triumph.
