new look back anger

8/13/2019 New Look Back Anger

1/25

PILOT THEATRE

LOOK BACK IN ANGER

RESOURCES

Introduction

On May 8th1956,Look Back in Anger opened at the Royal Court Theatre as the third

production of the newly formed Enlish !tae Company" The Enlish !tae Company had

#een founded in 1955 to promote the production of new plays #y contemporary authors that

miht not find production in the commercial $est End theatre %&ondon's e(ui)alent of

*roadway in +ew or- City." $est End theatre pro)ided (uality actin and hih standards of

production, #ut )ery little drama that related to life in contemporary Enland" Most plays of

the time were enerally innocuous liht comedies, thrillers, and forein imports/fourteen

0merican shows in 1955 alone" Os#orne had su#mitted copies ofLook Back in Anger to

e)ery aent in &ondon and to many $est End producers and had #een reected #y all" $hen

the script arri)ed at the Royal Court, the 0rtistic 2irector 3eore 2e)ine and his youn

assistant director Tony Richardson -new it was e4actly what they were loo-in for"Look

Back in Anger was )iewed as a play that would, as 2e)ine later put it, #low a hole in the old

theatre"

Critical reception was stronly mi4ed some detested the play and the central character, #ut

most reconi7ed Os#orne as an important new talent and the play as emotionally powerful"They also reconi7ed the play as one that fer)ently spo-e of the concerns of the youn in

postwar Enland" The first production ofLook Back in Anger was not initially financially

successful, althouh after an e4cerpt was shown on **C the #o4 office was o)erwhelmed"

Os#orne was pu#licised as the 0nry oun Man, and the success of Look Back in Anger

opened the doors to other youn writers who dealt with contemporary pro#lems"

John Osborne

ohn ames Os#orne was #orn on 2ecem#er 1: th19:9 in ;ulham, south west &ondon"


2/25

Os#orne's playwritin career #ean while he was still an actor" "

Summr!

Act I

The plot ofLook Back in Anger is dri)en almost entirely #y the tirades of immy ?orter rather

than outside forces" The play is set in a oneroom attic apartment in the Midlands of Enland"

This lare room is the home of immy ?orter, his wife 0lison, and his #usiness partner and

friend Cliff &ewis, who has a separate #edroom across the hall"

The play opens with 0lison at the ironin #oard and immy and Cliff in easy chairs readin

the !unday papers" immy complains that half the #oo- re)iew he is readin in his posh

paper is in ;rench"


3/25

0lison, and e)en Mrs" 2rury, their landlady" Cliff and immy then playfully wrestle and

accidentally push o)er 0lison and the ironin #oard" 0lison has #urnt her arm and finally tells

immy to et out" Cliff ministers to 0lison's #urn and calms her" !he tells him that she is

prenant" !he is afraid to tell immy lest he thin- she planned it" Cliff holds 0lison and

immy enters" There is teasin and play as immy reesta#lishes himself, and Cliff oes out for

ciarettes" immy tells 0lison that he wants her= they play a pri)ate and affectionate ame of

s(uirrels and #ears, and 0lison is a#out to tell him of her prenancy when Cliff returns to

say


4/25

room"


5/25

0lison's friend $e#ster is mentioned, whom immy declares he can't ta-e toniht" 0lison

points out that immy said $e#ster was the only one of her friends that he felt understood

him a little #it"

0 discussion of immy's former mistress ensues, o#)iously annoyin 0lison" immy then

#eins a fresh assault on 0lison, who is )isi#ly wearin down" At is re)ealed to the audience

that immy possesses not only contempt for her father, #ut for her entire family, includin

#rother +iel and her mother"


6/25

competiti)e #anter, i)in them a means to tussle without actually doin the physical

wrestlin" Cliff is contrasted aainst immy as #ein a less educated character, which is why

he is often the #utt of immy's comments on intellience, #ut the reader feels much friendlier

toward Cliff's character, sympathi7in with him when he ets pic-ed on and identifyin with

him as an easyoin, reular person"

0lison is o#)iously a mee-er character #y far, which her short answers to immy's needlin

confirm= howe)er, much of her reaction to his words may #e a sin of her ha)in i)en up

#attlin him, and instead su#mittin to whate)er -eeps the peace" !he too is the constant

o#ect of immy's insults, especially a#out her intellience" The )ery first thin the reader

hears immy say to her is a i#e a#out the papers #ein half in ;rench, and we find out she has

actually #een inorin the con)ersation"


7/25

whate)er heiht he can"

The stae directions continually point to the fact that immy ets a per)erse oy out of ettin

people to react" ?erhaps as a reaction aainst the society he percei)es, he seems to enoy any

display of passion, e)en if it is shown in aner towards him" $hene)er he has a fa)ora#le

description of any#ody, #e it 0lison's friend $e#ster, or


8/25

%aain. after findin a letter from her mother that she meant to -eep hidden"

immy then a#ruptly lea)es after #eratin her for #oth


9/25


10/25

At is re)ealed that immy still doesn't -now a#out the #a#y, and 0lison oes so far as to say

that she loathes the thouht of him enterin the room, (uite an unfortunate feelin to ha)e

a#out one's spouse" $hen


11/25

and into society e)en thouh they are )aue and not oriented to action, #ut immy does not

try to ad)ance in any career e)en thouh he considers himself to #e the -ind of person that

deser)es such ains"


12/25

curtain closes"

Act II" Scene ii An#!sis

Colonel Redfern, 0lison's father, is introduced here as a much more sympathetic characterthan the other main characters ha)e #een"


13/25

Once immy comes in, he already has fiured out what has happened, and rails aainst 0lison

for the letter she has written him, once aain #etrayin his need to see passion in his partner"


14/25

wearin in the openin of 0ct A, as if


15/25

immy aain shows his immaturity"

Act III" Scene ii Summr!

0 few minutes after immy lea)es, his trumpet can #e heard" 0lison relates how many times

she tried to come to the apartment, #ut she turned #ac- #efore she ot there" !he fiddles withimmy's pipe and tells


16/25

accurately states, There's no place for people li-e that any loner in se4, or politics, or

anythin" That's why he's so futile" !ometimes, when A listen to him, A feel he thin-s he's still

in the middle of the ;rench Re)olution" 0nd that's where he ouht to #e, of course"


17/25

comforta#ly in Andia until 19>B" B" 2urin that time he seldom spent any time in Enland"


18/25

#ecause he cannot #rea- throuh her cool, her unwillinness to feel deeply e)en durin

se4ual intercourse with her hus#and"


19/25

0s Colonel Redfern points out, operatin a sweet stall seems an odd occupation for an

educated youn man" immy sees sufferin the pain of life as the only way to find, or earn,

one's true identity" 0lison, who seems immune to this, does finally suffer the immeasura#le

loss of her un#orn child and comes #ac- to immy, who seems to em#race her"


20/25

Os#orne's use of lanuae is alined with realism" The characters' speech and rhythms reflect

their class and education" B, the loss of 0frican colonies and the near independence of the

Commonwealth nations such as Canada, 0ustralia, and +ew Pealand" The !ue7 crises in

1956, in which Eypt refused to renew the *ritishowned !ue7 Canal Company's concession,

resulted in a disastrous and humiliatin inter)ention #y Enland, and emphasised the lac- of

power wielded #y *ritain in the post $orld $ar AA world"

There had also #een incursions into the power structure since early ictorian times, with the

rulin classes resistin e)ery inch of the way" An 19>5, the &a#our ?arty won an impressi)e

)ictory o)er the Tories, thus turnin the wartime hero $inston Churchill out of office" This

was a mandate for the welfare state and the end of the class system" ?rosperity for all was the

hope of the people" +ationali7ed medicine #ecame a reality and a social welfare system was

constructed" An the words of


21/25


22/25

minority" A estimate it at rouhly 6,BDD,@@@, which is the num#er of people in this country

#etween the aes of twenty and thirty" 0nd this fiure will dou#tless #e swelled #y refuees

from other aeroups who are curious to -now precisely what the contemporary youn pup

is thin-in and feelin""" At is the #est youn play of its decade"

An spite of the tremendous critical e4citement it enerated,Look Back in Anger was not

financially successful durin its first run" ?art of the pro#lem was thouht to #e the fact that

rotatin repertory/a practice new to 195@s &ondon/was confusin to audiences who were

una#le to determine when any particular play was #ein performed" At was decided in 0uust

to cancel the other plays and runLook Back in Anger alone for ele)en wee-s, #ut e)en then

the tic-et sales failed to meet e4penses" 0 twentyfi)e minute e4cerpt from the play was

#roadcast #y **C on Octo#er 16, and followin that the play sold out for its run and a three

wee- run in another theatre" 0 production ofLook Back in Anger then toured Enland" At

recei)ed theEvening 'tandard A+ard as #est new play of 1956"

Look Back in Anger opened at the &yceum Theatre on *roadway on Octo#er 1st195B, with

the oriinal cast and recei)ed )ery stron re)iews" At ran for >@B performances, had a second

*roadway production #einnin in +o)em#er 1958, and toured the nited !tates and Canada"At recei)ed the +ew or- 2rama Critics Circle 0ward as the #est forein play of 195B" At then

played all o)er the world" At continues to #e produced, #oth #y professional and amateur

theatre roups"

ThatLook Back in Anger still has the power to mo)e audiences was shown #y udi 2ench's

1989 re)i)al of the play in *elfast, +orthern Areland, which starred enneth *ranah"

Maureen ?aton, in theDaily E)press, commented This de)astatin study of a disinteratin

marriae has ne)er dated since it chaned *ritish theatre #ac- in 1956" 2amian !myth, in

theIndependent, declared 0t the point when immy prescri#es for 0lison's lac- of

authenticity that she should ha)e a child and that it should die, when he doesn't -now she is

already prenant #y him, there went up an instincti)e asp of shoc-" That's not #ad after DD

years, and it is a testimony to the strenth of this production in a city not unaccustomed toshoc-" Michael *illinton, critic for the &ardian, asserted that 3ood plays chane their

meanin with time= and it is a measure of the (uality of ohn Os#orne' sLook Back in Anger

that it now seems a )ery different wor- to the one staed at the Royal Court in 1956"

0lthouh to *illinton the play seemed less an incendiary social drama than Ia EueneJ

O'+eillli-e e4ploration of personal pain, he went on to note that what is slihtly chillin is

to realise how topical many of Os#orne's ideas remain"

*edi Ad'ttions

Look Back in Angerwas adapted in 1958 as a film #y ohn Os#orne and +iel neale" At wasproduced #y $oodfall ;ilms, a company formed #y ohn Os#orne and Tony Richardson" At

was directed #y Tony Richardson, and starred Richard *urton and Claire *loom"

0 second film as made in 198@, directed #y &indsay 0nderson %a former artistic director of

the Royal Court Theatre." At starred Malcolm Mc2owell and &isa *anes"

The 1989 re)i)al directed #y udi 2ench for a )ery limited run in *elfast was filmed for

Thames Tele)ision" The tele)ision )ersion was directed #y 2a)id ones and starred enneth

*ranah and Emma Thompson"

To'ics $or +urther Stud!

?ae :: of :5 www"pilottheatre"com


23/25

Research the $elfare !tate prorammes and policies in postwar Enland" $hy would

these not satisfy someone li-e immy ?orterF

Compare 0uust !trind#er's The ather orDance of Death, and


24/25

Tod!1 The Royal +ational Theatre and the Royal !ha-espeare Company #oth pro)ide maor

outlets for rele)ant contemporary drama, and there are hundreds of theatres that produce new

plays"

2ht 3o I Red Ne)t4

The Entertainer is Os#orne's second play, produced #y The Enlish !tae Company in 195B"

Os#orne offers the outdated and dyin Enlish music hall and the main character, secondrate

performer 0rchie Rice, as a metaphor for Enland"

L&ther is Os#orne's psycholoical study of Martin &uther as a pri)ate man, rather than as a

pu#lic reliious fiure and instiator of the ?rotestant Reformation"

Inadmissi#le Evidence is the product of a more mature artistic mind and e)idenced that

Os#orne could successfully #rea- traditional dramaturical rules" At pic-s up Os#orne's

chronicle of the state of contemporary Enland whereLook Back in Anger left off"

A Better %lass of Person is Os#orne's auto#ioraphy up to the production ofLook Back in

Anger.Almost a entleman is Os#orne's second )olume of auto#ioraphy and #eins with

his fame as a playwriht that followed the production ofLook Back in Anger.

/oots is a play #y 0rnold $es-er produced #y the Enlish !tae Company" At deals with a

youn woman of the rural wor-in class findin her own )oice and is an e4ample of the many

plays dealin realistically with contemporary Enland that followedLook Back in Anger.

Plays for Plic Places are short plays written #y


25/25

new look back anger

Documents