The Royal Court opened in April 1956 with a production of Angus Wilson's play "The Mulberry Bush", followed by Arthur Miller's "The Crucible", in which Devine played Governor Danforth as well as directing. It was not until the fourth production, John Osborne's "Look Back in Anger", that the theatre really attracted public attention. Although the play was badly reviewed by traditional theatre critics such as Milton Shulman and Philip Hope-Wallace, glowing reviews from the two Sunday critics Kenneth Tynan and Harold Hobson ensured that the play eventually became a hit.