The Fourposter, Jan de Hartog's most successful play, was first produced at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in 1951, and ran for 632 performances on Broadway. This first run starred the famous husband and wife acting duo, Jessica Tandy, as Agnes, and Hume Cronyn, as Michael. New York Times drama critic Brooks Atkinson gave the opening night performance hearty applause. In an October 25 review, he hails it as a "literate and professional work all the way through." He describes the writing of the play as "so compact and simple that you may not realize at once how good it is." Atkinson notes that while "nothing very extraordinary happens" throughout the play, de Hartog "has managed to skeletonize it with great understanding and skill." His one criticism is that "Once in a while it seems thin." In a somewhat longer review in the New York Times a month after the...