The London premiere of "Jumpers" garnered praise and the play began a second run (at the National Theatre) by 1976, but "Jumpers" according to Paul Delaney "came over to the United States in an indifferently received production; and in 1975, it was subjected to a disastrous Chicago area premiere at the Evanston (later to become Northlight) Theatre." Detractors first "faulted the play as a 'shallow display of stage pyrotechnics' and admirers praised it for 'a dazzling display of virtuosity'". Kenneth Tynan in 1977 described "Jumpers" as Stoppard's masterpiece up to that point, and Delaney agreed, arguing that the character of Moore was neither Stoppard's masterpiece nor the comic butt of the farce, and that the play instead "leads us to a complex vision which precludes a simple yes or no answer to the question of whether Stoppard comes down on George's side." Benedict Nightingale lauded the play as achieving a combination of social criticism and metaphysics "with a theatrical extravagance that verges on the outrageous, with a nice sense of individual character."