Look Back in Anger - John Osborne
[alert-success] Look Back in Anger - John Osborne [/alert-success]
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When Look Back in Anger premiered in 1956, it ushered in a new era in English theatre. It was written in the popular format of a three-act well-crafted realistic play, which had been around for over eighty years. Even those who embraced the play as a major breakthrough in English drama and a beacon of hope for English theatre recognised that the play's construction was somewhat clumsy and needed editing.
Not only that, but Look Back in Anger has been revived numerous times and continues to engage audiences, hold their attention, and even surprise them. This is clearly not an ordinary play, despite the fact that the format is not novel.
Until 1956, the subject matter of English theatre in the twentieth century was polite, perhaps witty, and even elegant and glittering in its use of language; however, it did not speak to the nation's concerns, whether young or old. It was a theatre of diversion, one that was careful not to shatter the illusions of its middle-class audience, and one that had lost all relevance to life in post-World War II England. That was changed by John Osborne. "Good taste, reticence, and middle-class understatement were convicted of hypocrisy and jettisoned on the spot," wrote Kenneth Tynan in the Observer on December 19, 1959.
They weren't thrown out in a polite, or even comedic, political or social analysis; they were thrown out by an articulate, educated, and enraged young man who pointed out what his current world was really like. The socialist intellectuals had envisioned a world of egalitarianism and idealism, but it was not to be. It was a bleak world in which, as Jimmy puts it, "no good, brave causes remain."
Despite the expansion of university education opportunities, the old power structure based on "the old boy" network of school and family connections remained in place. The old power structure was cynical and hell-bent on ensuring its own survival. The Church of England, like the politicians, was a part of the Establishment and seemed out of touch with people's everyday lives. For Jimmy and Osborne, the Church's answers were a simple bromide that prevented people from honestly examining their lives and societies.
Not only that, but Look Back in Anger has been revived numerous times and continues to engage audiences, hold their attention, and even surprise them. This is clearly not an ordinary play, despite the fact that the format is not novel.
Until 1956, the subject matter of English theatre in the twentieth century was polite, perhaps witty, and even elegant and glittering in its use of language; however, it did not speak to the nation's concerns, whether young or old. It was a theatre of diversion, one that was careful not to shatter the illusions of its middle-class audience, and one that had lost all relevance to life in post-World War II England. That was changed by John Osborne. "Good taste, reticence, and middle-class understatement were convicted of hypocrisy and jettisoned on the spot," wrote Kenneth Tynan in the Observer on December 19, 1959.
They weren't thrown out in a polite, or even comedic, political or social analysis; they were thrown out by an articulate, educated, and enraged young man who pointed out what his current world was really like. The socialist intellectuals had envisioned a world of egalitarianism and idealism, but it was not to be. It was a bleak world in which, as Jimmy puts it, "no good, brave causes remain."
Despite the expansion of university education opportunities, the old power structure based on "the old boy" network of school and family connections remained in place. The old power structure was cynical and hell-bent on ensuring its own survival. The Church of England, like the politicians, was a part of the Establishment and seemed out of touch with people's everyday lives. For Jimmy and Osborne, the Church's answers were a simple bromide that prevented people from honestly examining their lives and societies.
Although the "Bishop of Bromley" quoted by Jimmy is a fictional character, his call for Christians to assist in the development of the H-Bomb was not. In 1956 England, John Osborne discovered a form that captured the audience's unformed mood and discontent and gave it voice. Following the broadcast of a twenty-five minute segment of the play by the British Broadcasting Company BBC, a large audience wrote letters requesting to see the entire play.
It is not enough to simply state that people, particularly young people, are dissatisfied. That reality must be brought to life in a memorable way by the theatre. Jimmy Porter is a fantastic character, and the force of his rage is unforgettable.
Many times, John Osborne stated that his goal was to make people feel rather than to analyse and write about social ills. Jimmy Porter is not a political activist; he is a man who lives day to day in a world where convention has numbed his feelings and imaginative responses to others. Jimmy's attacks aren't directed at abstract concepts. He recognises the harm that this world of dead ideas and stale custom is wreaking on him and those he cares about. Jimmy Porter is driven by a desire to awaken them to feelings, to being truly and vibrantly alive. Look Back in Anger is a deeply felt drama about personal relationships, and it is because of this personal element that the play is not only relevant but also vivid to today's audiences.
Alison is Jimmy's main source of conflict. While the marriage is a misalliance, it is more than a misalliance between a Colonel's daughter and a rough-hewn commoner; it is a misalliance between someone who is alive and suffering and someone who shuts off all suffering and sensitivity to the suffering of others to avoid the pain of life. They've been married for three years, and their daily lives have become monotonous.
"She hasn't had a thought in years!" Jimmy says to Alison less than a minute into the game. "Have you done so?" "All this time [have been married to this woman, this monument of non-attachment," he says shortly after, referring to her as "The Lady Pusillanimous." Alison's cool detachment extends to their lovemaking as well. "Do you know I've never known the great pleasure of making love when I didn't want it myself," Jimmy says. "She has the passion of a python." He wishes to reawaken her to life, in all of its suffering.
It is not enough to simply state that people, particularly young people, are dissatisfied. That reality must be brought to life in a memorable way by the theatre. Jimmy Porter is a fantastic character, and the force of his rage is unforgettable.
Many times, John Osborne stated that his goal was to make people feel rather than to analyse and write about social ills. Jimmy Porter is not a political activist; he is a man who lives day to day in a world where convention has numbed his feelings and imaginative responses to others. Jimmy's attacks aren't directed at abstract concepts. He recognises the harm that this world of dead ideas and stale custom is wreaking on him and those he cares about. Jimmy Porter is driven by a desire to awaken them to feelings, to being truly and vibrantly alive. Look Back in Anger is a deeply felt drama about personal relationships, and it is because of this personal element that the play is not only relevant but also vivid to today's audiences.
Alison is Jimmy's main source of conflict. While the marriage is a misalliance, it is more than a misalliance between a Colonel's daughter and a rough-hewn commoner; it is a misalliance between someone who is alive and suffering and someone who shuts off all suffering and sensitivity to the suffering of others to avoid the pain of life. They've been married for three years, and their daily lives have become monotonous.
"She hasn't had a thought in years!" Jimmy says to Alison less than a minute into the game. "Have you done so?" "All this time [have been married to this woman, this monument of non-attachment," he says shortly after, referring to her as "The Lady Pusillanimous." Alison's cool detachment extends to their lovemaking as well. "Do you know I've never known the great pleasure of making love when I didn't want it myself," Jimmy says. "She has the passion of a python." He wishes to reawaken her to life, in all of its suffering.
It is undeniable that his passion and despair drive him to excess: he wishes for her to have a child and for that child to die. "If I could just watch you face that, I wonder if you'd become a recognisable human being yourself," he says. Later, he says he'd like to see her grovel in the mud. "I want to sing while standing in your tears and splashing around in them."
To be alive is to experience suffering. Certainly, the idea that suffering validates human existence has been present in world drama since Sophocles' time. Furthermore, Jimmy recognises that Alison's lack of emotional commitment to anything is depleting his own enthusiasm for life. "All so that I shouldn't carry off her daughter on that old charger of mine, all tricked out and caparisoned in discredited passions and ideals!" he says of Alison's mother's efforts to prevent the marriage. The old grey mare, who once led the charge against the old order, isn't the same person she used to be. She tried everything she could to lift me, but your weight was too much for her. "She just passed out on the way." Jimmy is battling for his love as well as his own personal life.
To be alive is to experience suffering. Certainly, the idea that suffering validates human existence has been present in world drama since Sophocles' time. Furthermore, Jimmy recognises that Alison's lack of emotional commitment to anything is depleting his own enthusiasm for life. "All so that I shouldn't carry off her daughter on that old charger of mine, all tricked out and caparisoned in discredited passions and ideals!" he says of Alison's mother's efforts to prevent the marriage. The old grey mare, who once led the charge against the old order, isn't the same person she used to be. She tried everything she could to lift me, but your weight was too much for her. "She just passed out on the way." Jimmy is battling for his love as well as his own personal life.
Jimmy's vibrant life drew Alison to him in the first place, and he needs to break through her neutrality. "Everything about him seemed to burn, his face, the edges of his hair glistened and seemed to spring off his head, and his eyes were so blue and filled with the sun," she says to Helena in Act II, scene 1. "I'd lived a happy, uncomplicated life, and suddenly, this—this spiritual barbarian—throws down the gauntlet at me," she says to her father in Act II, scene 2: "I'd lived a happy, uncomplicated life, and suddenly, this—this spiritual barbarian—throws down the gauntlet at me." "Perhaps only another woman could comprehend what such a challenge entails......"
Alison does lose her unborn child, but she comes back to Jimmy richer in the humility and pain of life. They've entered their game of "bears and squirrels" at the end of the play, which Alison described as a place where "we could become little furry creatures with little furry brains." They have a simple, uncomplicated love for each other. "A silly symphony for people who could no longer bear the pain of being human." It seems unlikely that such a withdrawal from the world would last, and it's likely that Osborne was aware of the play's irony when he wrote it. Jimmy's rage is deep, and it is not new or fueled by current events, either in his personal life or in society.
Jimmy watched his idealistic father die for twelve months when he was ten years old, and "I was the only one who cared." "You see, I learned what it was like to be angry at a young age—angry and helpless," he says. And it's something I'll never forget." Jimmy's pain and rage appear to stem from the same place as John Osborne's, who watched his father die of tuberculosis when he was a child.
After seeing the 1989 revival of Look Back in Anger, critic Michael Billmgton wrote in the Guardian, "Good plays change their meaning with time." Even forty-two years after its premiere, the play still rings true and excites as the emphasis shifts from the social commentary to the personal angst that propelled it from the beginning.
Alison does lose her unborn child, but she comes back to Jimmy richer in the humility and pain of life. They've entered their game of "bears and squirrels" at the end of the play, which Alison described as a place where "we could become little furry creatures with little furry brains." They have a simple, uncomplicated love for each other. "A silly symphony for people who could no longer bear the pain of being human." It seems unlikely that such a withdrawal from the world would last, and it's likely that Osborne was aware of the play's irony when he wrote it. Jimmy's rage is deep, and it is not new or fueled by current events, either in his personal life or in society.
Jimmy watched his idealistic father die for twelve months when he was ten years old, and "I was the only one who cared." "You see, I learned what it was like to be angry at a young age—angry and helpless," he says. And it's something I'll never forget." Jimmy's pain and rage appear to stem from the same place as John Osborne's, who watched his father die of tuberculosis when he was a child.
After seeing the 1989 revival of Look Back in Anger, critic Michael Billmgton wrote in the Guardian, "Good plays change their meaning with time." Even forty-two years after its premiere, the play still rings true and excites as the emphasis shifts from the social commentary to the personal angst that propelled it from the beginning.
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