There is no unanimous critical opinion about The Hostage, and the seeds of critical disagreement about the play seem to have been sown in the first reviews. The play premiered in London on October 14,1958, and the next day reviews appeared in both the London Times and the Guardian that mixed praise with condemnation.

The unnamed author of the Times' s review recognized Behan's comic genius and his deft characterizations. "Meg is the shameless woman of the streets who enjoys letting herself go in a flood of patriotic rhetoric as much as she enjoys 'taking the mickey' out of rival rhetoricians," and "Pat is an old man who endlessly tells steep stories of his heroic exploits in the Troubles." The Times reviewer emphasized that Behan's play was in large part successful because Behan was not afraid to poke fun at Irish character types.

However, the Times reviewer...