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    A Study Guide for John Osborne's "Look Back in Anger"
    A Study Guide for John Osborne's "Look Back in Anger"
    A Study Guide for John Osborne's "Look Back in Anger"
    Ebook38 pages30 minutes

    A Study Guide for John Osborne's "Look Back in Anger"

    By Gale and Cengage

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    About this ebook

    A Study Guide for John Osborne's "Look Back in Anger," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Drama For Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Drama For Students for all of your research needs.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCengage Learning - Gale
    Release dateJul 27, 2016
    ISBN9781535827577
    A Study Guide for John Osborne's "Look Back in Anger"

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      Book preview

      A Study Guide for John Osborne's "Look Back in Anger" - Gale

      4

      Look Back in Anger

      John Osborne

      1956

      Introduction

      On May 8, 1956, Look Back in Anger opened at the Royal Court Theatre as the third production of the newly formed English Stage Company. The English Stage Company had been founded in 1955 to promote the production of new plays by contemporary authors that might not find production in the commercial West End theatre (London’s equivalent of Broadway in New York City). West End theatre provided quality acting and high standards of production, but very little drama that related to life in contemporary England. Most plays of the time were generally innocuous light comedies, thrillers, and foreign imports—fourteen American shows in 1955 alone. Osborne had submitted copies of Look Back in Anger to every agent in London and to many West End producers and had been rejected by all. When the script arrived at the Royal Court, the Artistic Director George Devine and his young assistant director Tony Richardson knew it was exactly what they were looking for. Look Back in Anger was viewed as a play that would, as Devine later put it, blow a hole in the old theatre.

      Critical reception was strongly mixed: some detested the play and the central character, but most recognized Osborne as an important new talent and the play as emotionally powerful. They also recognized the play as one that fervently spoke of the concerns of the young in post-war England. Although the first production of Look Back in Anger was not initially financially successful, after an excerpt was shown on BBC the box office was overwhelmed. Osborne was publicized as the Angry Young Man and the success of Look Back in Anger opened the doors to other young writers who dealt with contemporary problems.

      Author Biography

      John James Osborne was born on December 12, 1929, in Fulham, South West London. His father, Thomas Godfry Osborne, was then a commercial artist and copywriter; his mother, Nellie Beatrice Grove Osborne, worked as a barmaid in pubs most of her life. Much of Osborne’s childhood was spent in near poverty, and he suffered from frequent extended illnesses. He was deeply affected by his father’s death from tuberculosis in 1941 and also remembered vividly the air raids and general excitement of war. Osborne attended state schools until the age of

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