Look Back in Anger

For other uses, see Look Back in Anger (disambiguation).
Look Back in Anger
Poster for 1957 production [1]
Written byJohn Osborne
CharactersJimmy Porter
Alison Porter
Cliff Lewis
Helena Charles
Colonel Redfern[2]
Date premiered8 May 1956
Place premieredRoyal Court Theatre, London
Original languageEnglish
SubjectBritish class system, marriage, misogyny
Genrerealism
SettingA single-room flat, English Midlands, 1950s

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]

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]

  1. ^ V&A archive collection.[1]
  2. ^ GradeSaver. "Look Back in Anger Characters". www.gradesaver.com.
  3. ^ "An introduction to Look Back in Anger". The British Library.
  4. ^ "Look Back in Anger Summary - eNotes.com". eNotes.
  5. ^ Billington, Michael (30 March 2015). "Look Back in Anger: how John Osborne liberated theatrical language" – via www.theguardian.com.
  6. ^ Prasad, G. J. V. (30 November 2017). The Lost Temper: Critical Essays on Look Back in Anger. Macmillan India Limited. ISBN 9781403909466 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ Prexl, Lydia (17 June 2009). The Tragedy of Jimmy Porter: Overview of the critical opinions about "Look Back in Anger" and development of a thesis. GRIN Verlag. ISBN 9783640349319 – via Google Books.
  8. ^ Denison, Patricia D. (6 December 2012). John Osborne: A Casebook. Routledge. ISBN 9781136546679 – via Google Books.