Edward Gordon Craig has been the object of much criticism, not least in the furore over the publication of Ellen Terry's correspondence with Bernard Shaw. Craig is, in some ways, an easy target. He seems to invite censure. But perhaps now is the time for a reassessment. The idea that he deserved punishment, even in a legal setting, seems to be widely welcomed, as I have indicated elsewhere. His treatment of women, in particular, his one-sided commitment to free love and the casual way he ignored some of the inevitable and unfortunate outcomes, challenge the modern reader in various ways. However, many of his family, friends and lovers made allowances for him. For his lovers, especially, he had illuminated their lives with such vivid intensity, such irresistible fun and magical happiness for a time that they could endure the appalling pain and disappointment that followed without our schoolmasterly interference: and besides they had his children.

It was wrong, Craig liked to believe, to allow one's mind to dwell on misconduct – indeed it could be ruinous. He was fond of quoting R. L. Stevenson to this effect: