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Product Description
Product Description
In 1956 John Osborne's Look Back in Anger changed the course of English theatre.
'Look Back in Anger presents post-war youth as it really is. To have done this at all would be a significant achievement; to have done it in a first play is a minor miracle. All the qualities are there, qualities one had despaired of ever seeing on stage - the drift towards anarchy, the instinctive leftishness, the automatic rejection of "official" attitudes, the surrealist sense of humour . . . the casual promiscuity, the sense of lacking a crusade worth fighting for and, underlying all these, the determination that no one who dies shall go unmourned.' Kenneth Tynan, Observer, 13 May 1956
'Look Back in Anger . . . has its inarguable importance as the beginning of a revolution in the British theatre, and as the central and most immediately influential expression of the mood of its time, the mood of the "angry young man".' John Russell Taylor
About the Author
John Osborne was born in London in 1929. Before becoming a playwright he worked as a journalist, assistant stage manager and repertory theatre actor. Seeing an advertisement for new plays in The Stage in 1956, Osborne submitted Look Back in Anger. Not only was the play produced, but it was to become considered as the turning point in post-war British theatre. Osborne's protagonist, Jimmy Porter, captured the rebelliousness of an entire post-war generation of 'angry young men'. His other plays include The Entertainer (1957), Luther (1961), Inadmissible Evidence (1964), and A Patriot for Me (1966). He also wrote two volumes of autobiography, A Better Class of Person (1981) and Almost a Gentleman (1991). His last play, Dejavu (1991), returns to the characters of Look Back in Anger, over thirty years later. Both Look Back in Anger and The Entertainer were adapted for film, and in 1963 Osborne won an Academy Award for his screenplay for Tom Jones. John Osborne died on 24 December 1994.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Look back in Anger is not only a classic of the British theatre, it also had reverbatory effects around the world upon its release in the 1950s. The play features some of the most vivious confrontations and acidic language I have ever read, and is ideal material for male and female monologues. Jimmy, the protagonist, has perplexed audiences and directors alike - how can any woman stand to live with him, let alone be drawn back to him after seemingly 'escaping'? But that is the lure of Jimmy's character - his sheer charisma. He is a James Dean for the English middle-classes, without the stunning looks, but with more reasons to rebel. The imagery of the play is at once subtle and exciting: Osborne is a master at creating visual and audio contradictions. In LOOK BACK IN ANGER this is manifested in the contrast between the bestial (animal) imagery, the unbridled lust of the protagonists, and constant reminders of religion, the Church, and the 'proper' society that Jimmy wishes to tear Alison away from. It is a drama of passion, bitterness and regret, with a shocking climax and a disturbingly ambiguous conclusion. Essential reading.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I went to Waterstones to check this play because of the many references to both play and author. I was so strongly hooked that I sat there and then and read the whole thing. Then I went on and ordered it all the same, because my library couldn't be missing such a work. The characters are incredibly strong and well defined, big emotions and powerful controversy are stirred, and its a beautifully ironic twist on love and British post-war youth with poetically expressed existentialism/nihilism seamlessly integrated at various moments. This play redefined British theatre (and, for me, youth and pop culture) with its bold subject matter. Read it - see it!
(apologies, when I get really excited about something, like I obviously did here, i find it hard to put into words, but I had to add my review, if nothing else, to restore the deserved balance in the rating)
(apologies, when I get really excited about something, like I obviously did here, i find it hard to put into words, but I had to add my review, if nothing else, to restore the deserved balance in the rating)
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is on my reading list for Uni next year, it only took three days for delivery after I ordered it & is a very good edition of the play. Highly recommended to any college or uni drama students.
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