'Stoppard's work thrilled him': critic who spotted brilliance from the start

The Observer's Ronald Bryden compared the playwright to Shakespeare while others were being sniffy, says Vanessa Thorpe

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The Observer theatre critic Ronald Bryden, the first to recognise Tom Stoppard’s brilliance and considered responsible for launching the playwright’s career, was “determined not to see Rosencrantz and Guildenstern lost,” Bryden’s family has said.

Bryden, who died in 2004, aged 76, championed Stoppard’s work throughout his life. His two daughters, Pier Bryden and Diana Fitzgerald Bryden, recall the impact the men had on each other's lives. “What stunned my father about that initial Rosencrantz and Guildenstern production was the lack of critical recognition of its extraordinary combination of originality and celebration of British theatrical tradition,” Pier said this weekend. At the time, Bryden’s fellow critics were sniffy, at best.

She and her father also often admired the famous cricket bat speech in Stoppard’s later play The Real Thing. “It exemplified Dad’s perspective on ‘good’ art and theatre and why criticism matters,” Pier said.