Look Back in Anger
Look Back in Anger (1956) is a realist play written by John Osborne. It focuses on the life and marital struggles of an intelligent and educated but disaffected young man of working-class origin, Jimmy Porter, and his equally competent yet impassive upper-middle-class wife Alison. The supporting characters include Cliff Lewis, an amiable Welsh lodger who attempts to keep the peace; and Helena Charles, Alison's snobbish friend.[3][4][5]
For other uses, see Look Back in Anger (disambiguation).Look Back in Anger
Jimmy Porter
Alison Porter
Cliff Lewis
Helena Charles
Colonel Redfern[2]
8 May 1956
Royal Court Theatre, London
English
British class system, marriage, misogyny
A single-room flat, English Midlands, 1950s
Osborne drew inspiration from his personal life and failing marriage with Pamela Lane while writing Look Back in Anger, which was his first successful outing as a playwright. The play spawned the term "angry young men" to describe Osborne and those of his generation who employed the harshness of realism in the theatre in contrast to the more escapist theatre that characterised the previous generation.[6] This harsh realism has led to Look Back in Anger being considered one of the first examples of kitchen sink drama in theatre.
The play was received favourably in the theatre community, becoming an enormous commercial success, transferring to the West End and Broadway, and even touring to Moscow. It is credited with turning Osborne from a struggling playwright into a wealthy and famous personality, and also won him the Evening Standard Drama Award as the most promising playwright of 1956. The play was adapted into a motion picture of the same name by Tony Richardson, starring Richard Burton and Mary Ure, which was released in 1959. Film production credited circa 1958.[7][8]
Background of the play[edit]
Written in 17 days in a deck chair on Morecambe Pier,[9][10] Look Back in Anger was a strongly autobiographical piece based on Osborne's unhappy marriage to actress Pamela Lane and their life in cramped accommodation in Derby.[11] While Osborne aspired towards a career in theatre, Lane was more practical and materialistic. It also draws from Osborne's earlier life; for example, the wrenching speech of witnessing a loved one's death was a replay of the death of his father, Thomas.
What it is best remembered for, though, are Jimmy's tirades. Some of these are directed against generalised British middle-class smugness in the post-atomic world. Many are directed against the female characters, a very distinct echo of Osborne's uneasiness with women, including his mother, Nellie Beatrice, whom he describes in his autobiography A Better Class of Person as "hypocritical, self-absorbed, calculating and indifferent".[12] Madeline, the lost love Jimmy pines for, is based on Stella Linden, the older rep-company actress who first encouraged Osborne to write. After the first production in London, Osborne began a relationship with Mary Ure, who played Alison; he divorced his first wife (of five years) Pamela Lane to marry Ure in 1957.
Production[edit]
The play was premiered at London's Royal Court Theatre, on 8 May 1956 by the English Stage Company under the direction of Tony Richardson, setting by Alan Tagg, and music for songs by Tom Eastwood. The press release called the author an "angry young man", a phrase that came to represent a new movement in 1950s British theatre. Audiences supposedly gasped at the sight of an ironing board on a London stage.[13]
The cast was as follows: Kenneth Haigh (Jimmy), Alan Bates (Cliff), Mary Ure (Alison), Helena Hughes (Helena Charles) and John Welsh (Colonel Redfern). The following year, the production moved to Broadway under producer David Merrick and director Tony Richardson. Retaining the original cast but starring Vivienne Drummond as Helena, it received three Tony Award nominations, including for Best Play and Best Dramatic Actress for Ure.
Other notable productions[edit]
Bates reprised his role as Cliff Lewis, alongside Drummond as Helena Charles, on ITV's Play of the Week in 1956, shortly after the theatrical production premiered. Richard Pasco and Doreen Aris assumed the roles of Jimmy and Alison Porter, respectively. It was co-directed by Richardson and Silvio Narizzano.
The Renaissance Theatre Company's August 1989 production at the Lyric Theatre, London was directed by Judi Dench, with Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson.[14] A television version of the production was broadcast in Britain in December of that year.[15][16] In 1995, Greg Hersov directed a production at the Royal Exchange, Manchester with Michael Sheen as Jimmy, Claire Skinner as Alison, Dominic Rowan as Cliff and Hermione Norris as Helena.[17][18] Hersov directed a second production in 1999, again starring Michael Sheen, at the Royal National Theatre in London.[19][20]
2024 adaptation will stars Morfydd Clark & Billy Howle[21]
Sequel[edit]
In 1989 Osborne wrote a sequel to the play titled Déjàvu, which was first produced in 1992. Déjàvu depicted Jimmy Porter, now known as J.P., in middle age, living with his daughter Alison. He rants about the state of the country to his old friend Cliff, while his Alison irons, just as her mother had done in Look Back. The play was not a commercial success, closing after seven weeks. It was Osborne's last play.[22]