The Theatre of Anger and

John Osborne (1929-1994)

John Osborne
The Theatre of Anger and John Osborne

1. The Theatre of Anger and John Osborne

The 1950s:
the upheaval
of traditional
values

J. Osborne’s
Post-war The theatre
Look Back in
drama of Anger
Anger
The Theatre of Anger and John Osborne

2. The 1950s

This decade was characterised by:

• The destruction of the certainities of the Victorian Age,

after two World Wars.

• The decline of religious belief.

• The mistrust in rationalism as a means to explain reality.

The Theatre of Anger and John Osborne

• Socialist ideals,

• Materialism and consumerism of contemporary society.

• The cultural and moral independence of the young from

their elders.
The Theatre of Anger and John Osborne

3. Post-war drama
• Modern drama  inadequate to express the social revolution
and changing values of Britain in the 1950s.

• The attempt to overcome apathy  caused a real revolution in

British drama.
• There were two main trends in the 1950s drama:

1. The theatre of the «Absurd» 

2. The theatre of «Anger»  criticised establishment values.
The Theatre of Anger and John Osborne

4. The theatre of Anger

Main features:

• realistic setting

• logical, easy-to-follow plot

• outspoken language

• working-class hero (an anti-hero / a rebel)

• violence

• anger towards the past generation

The Theatre of Anger and John Osborne

5. John Osborne (1929-1994)

John Osborne
 John Osborne: biography
• Born on December 12, 1929, in London, John
Osborne changed the face of British theatre.
• His father, an advertising copywriter, died in
1941, leaving Osborne an insurance settlement
which he used to finance a boarding school
education at Belmont College in Devon.
• Still heartbroken, however, over his father's
death, Osborne could not focus on his studies
and left after striking the headmaster.
 John Osborne: biography

• He returned to London and lived

briefly with his mother, a barmaid. He
became involved in the theatre when
he took a job tutoring a touring
company of young actors.
• Osborne went on to serve as actor-
manager for companies and soon
decided to become a playwright.
• In 1956, Osborne decided to submit
Look Back in Anger.
 John Osborne: biography
• Not only was his play produced, but it is
considered by many critics to be the turning
point in postwar British theatre.
• Osborne's protagonist, Jimmy Porter, captured
the angry and rebellious nature of
the postwar generation: unhappy
due to World War II.
• Jimmy Porter came to represent all
"angry young men.”
 John Osborne: biography
• Osborne died in England.
• He left behind a large body of works for the
stage as well as several autobiographical
works: Look Back in Anger and The
Entertainer and Tom Jones.
 Look back in anger

• LOOK BACK IN ANGER tells the simple but gripping

story of Jimmy Porter, an angry young man with a
college education and a dead-end job.
• Feeling trapped by his circumstances, his squalid
post-war flat, and spurred on by self-pity, Porter
lashes out against his wife, Allison, his lover,
Helena, and his business partner, Cliff.
• Fierce, compassionate, funny, and ultimately
cathartic, John Osborne’s classic “kitchen sink”
drama, is a masterpiece of ensemble acting.
Only Connect ... New Directions
 Scenes from the play
• This play has passionate and emotional
scenes, making it an interesting starting point
for the discussion of personal relationships
and marriage.
• The films of the play are also interesting, since
they show England just after World War II – a
place of devastation and no hope for the
future.
The Theatre of Anger and John Osborne

6. Look back in Anger

• Structure: three-act conventional play,

• a circular plot.

• Setting: an attic flat in the Midland.

• Time: the play opens on a tedious

Sunday afternoon.
Kenneth Branagh as Jimmy Porter and Emma Thompson as
Alison in Look Back in Anger, a 1989 film directed by Judi Dench
The Theatre of Anger and John Osborne

6. Look back in Anger

• Characters: Jimmy Porter, an

angry young man with a college
education and a dead-end job; his
wife Alison, an upper-middle
class woman; Cliff, Jimmy’s
business partner, a working-class
uneducated man.

Kenneth Branagh as Jimmy Porter and Emma Thompson as

Alison in Look Back in Anger, a 1989 film directed by Judi Dench
 ACT I
• Describe the setting at the beginning.
• Time and place
• Describe Jimmy
• Alison
• Cliff

Only Connect ... New Directions

The Porters' one-room flat in a large Midland town. Early evening. April.
The scene is a fairly large attic room, at the top of a large Victorian house. The ceiling slopes
down quite sharply from L. to R. Down R. are two small low windows. In front of these is a dark
oak dressing table. Most of the furniture is simple, and rather old. Up R. is a double bed, running
the length of most of the back wall, the rest of which is taken up with a shelf of books. Down R.
below the bed is a heavy chest of drawers, covered with books, neckties and odds and ends,
including a large, tattered toy teddy bear and soft, woolly squirrel. Up L. is a door. Below this a
small wardrobe. Most of the wall L. is taken up with a high, oblong window. This looks out on to
the landing, but light comes through it from a skylight beyond. Below the wardrobe is a gas
stove, and, beside this, a wooden food cupboard, on which is a small, portable radio. Down C. is a
sturdy dining table and three chairs, and, below this, L. and R., two deep, shabby leather
armchairs. AT RISE OF CURTAIN, JIMMY and CLIFF are seated in the two armchairs R. and L.,
respectively. All that we can see of either of them is two pairs of legs, sprawled way out beyond
the newspapers which hide the rest of them from sight. They are both reading. Beside them, and
between them, is a jungle of newspapers and weeklies.

Only Connect ... New Directions

• How does Jimmy view women?

• Why is ‘education’, ‘peasant’, ‘ignorance’

repeated?

• In what sense ‘war’ reflects the background?

Only Connect ... New Directions

 EDUCATION
JIMMY: You're too ignorant.
CLIFF: Yes, and uneducated. Now shut up, will
you?
JIMMY: Why don't you get my wife to explain it
to you? She's educated. (To her.) That's right,
isn't it?

Only Connect ... New Directions

 WAR
• JIMMY: (quickly) Did you read about the
woman who went to the mass meeting of a
certain American evangelist at Earls Court?
She was yelling her head off in agony, but with
50,000 people putting all they'd got into
"Onward Christian Soldiers", nobody even
knew she was there. He looks up sharply for a
response, but there isn't any.

Only Connect ... New Directions

• Explain the religious concepts

• Explain the politics and concepts

• Explain ‘Perhaps all our children will be

Americans’ (p. 6)

Only Connect ... New Directions

• What does Jimmy and Alison indicate by
repeating ‘enthusiasm’?

• What is the role of Madeline in the story?

• Bear and squirrel game

Only Connect ... New Directions

• How does Jimmy view Alison’s family?

• How he sees Alison?

• What does Alison mean when she says

‘Jimmy’s got his own private morality’? (p. 12)

Only Connect ... New Directions

• Explain the idea of ‘lack of language’

• Explain the idea of ‘lack of trust’

• What are the main things that Jimmy is angry

at?

Only Connect ... New Directions

The Theatre of Anger and John Osborne

7. Look back in Anger: Jimmy Porter

Jimmy expresses anger and contempt
towards:

• the past

• his wife’s not being angry and her lack of

interest

• the whole establishment

Richard Burton as Jimmy Porter in Look Back in Anger, a 1958

• everyone and everything
film directed by Tony Richardson
The Theatre of Anger and John Osborne

7. Look back in Anger: Jimmy Porter

• He is an anti-hero  he only
speaks but never acts.

• He has established a love-hate

relationship with his wife 
he wants to possess her but at
the same time he tries to
destroy their relationship.
Richard Burton as Jimmy Porter in Look Back in Anger, a 1958
film directed by Tony Richardson
 ACT II
• What does the passage of time indicate?

• How does Helena see Jimmy? (p. 44) (p. 51)

• How does Alison defend him? (p.44) (p. 51)

• Why does Jimmy use difficult words? (p. 57)

Only Connect ... New Directions

• Explain Jimmy’s background and his life story.
(p. 59)

• How does Jimmy call Alison’s mother? (p. 62)

• Compare Jimmy and Cliff.

• Compare Helena and Alison.

Only Connect ... New Directions
• What does Jimmy mean when he says ‘The
only place they can see the light is the Dark
Ages’ (p. 67)

• What does Jimmy indicate when he says ‘I

learnt at an early age what it was to be
angry’? (p. 69)

Only Connect ... New Directions

• What is the relation between Mrs
Tanner and Jimmy? (p. 79)

• What kind of a person is Alison’s

father? (p. 77)

Only Connect ... New Directions

• How does Jimmy value Alison? (p.
91)

• How does Jimmy behave Helena?

• Bear with Helena (p. 89)

Only Connect ... New Directions
 ACT III
• What does the time indicate? (p. 93)

• In what sense can you compare the

opening scenes of Act I and Act III? (p.
93)

Only Connect ... New Directions

• Compare Jimmy’s love towards
Helena and Alison. (p. 96)

• Helena: My ironing board! (p.

100) (105)

Only Connect ... New Directions

• What does Jimmy mean when he says
‘Today’s meal is always different from
yesterday’s’? (p. 103)

• What does Alison mean when she compares

marriage as a constitutional monarchy? (p.
109)

Only Connect ... New Directions

• Explain the ‘lost generation’ in the play. (p.
111)

• Explain the reflections of Einstein’s relativity

of truth. (p. 111)

• Bear and squirrel game (p. 119)

Only Connect ... New Directions
• ‘crawling’ is associated with modern man. In
what ways? (p. 118)

• What does the ‘loss of baby’ indicate? (p. 112)

• Explain the reflections of war (p. 116)

Only Connect ... New Directions

The Theatre of Anger and John Osborne

8. Look back in Anger: themes and language

The leitmotivs of the play:

• the discontent and social

alienation of certain sections
of British society in the 1950s

• the pain of being alive

Look Back in Anger, a 2009 Northern Stage performance

• the study of existential

failure
The Theatre of Anger and John Osborne

8. Look back in Anger: themes and language

The language is:

• revolutionary, crude and

violent

• spontaneous and vital

• full of colloquialisms and Look Back in Anger, a 2009 Northern Stage performance

slang expressions
 SYMBOLS
• Bear and squirrel: Jimmy and Alison
• We could become little fury creatures
with little fury brains. Full of dumb,
uncomplicated affection for each
other.
• These animals were all love, and no
brain…
Only Connect ... New Directions
• When bear (Jimmy) and squirrel
(Alison) act like animals and
play the game, they live a
simpler version of love.
• Does Helena play the same
game with Jimmy?
Only Connect ... New Directions
• Church bells: Jimmy is irritated because
he is opposed to religious practices.

• Jimmy’s trumpet: Jimmy’s attached to.

It is a break from his routine life and it is
a weapon to break the nerves of others.

Only Connect ... New Directions

• ironing: symbol of Jimmy’s
boredom.
• Feminity
• Gender discrimination

Only Connect ... New Directions

 NAMES
• Alison: noble, kind, respected

• Jimmy: a crowbar with curved ends used to

open a door

• Helena: shining (hell-in)

• Cliff
Only Connect ... New Directions
 THEMES AND MESSAGES
• Anger
• Hate
• Love
• Class distinction
• Gender bias
• Post-war depression
• Situation of England

Only Connect ... New Directions

• In what sense the play is a
‘Realistic Drama’?

• In what sense the play is a

‘Modern Drama’?

Only Connect ... New Directions

• Can we label the play as Feministic Drama?

• Which character is the antagonist?

Only Connect ... New Directions

• Compare and contrast Look Back in Anger and
Hedda Gabler.

• Compare and contrast Look Back in Anger and

Trifles

Only Connect ... New Directions