2. LIFE
John James Osborne (12 December 1929 – 24 December 1994) was an
English playwright, screenwriter, actor and critic of the Establishment. The
success of his 1956 play Look Back in Anger transformed English theatre.
He belonged to a working-class family. School Certificate was the only formal
qualification he acquired, but he possessed a native intelligence.
After school, Osborne went home to his mother in London and briefly
tried trade journalism. A job tutoring a touring company of junior actors
introduced him to the theatre. He soon became involved as a stage manager.
3. HISTORICAL & POLITICAL
BACKGROUND
Look Back In Anger reflects the climate in Great Britain in the mid-
fifties
Between 1947 and 1948 the dissolution of the Colonial Empire caused
the loss of Great Britain’s military and political power
In 1944 an important education act was passed: also working-class
students could attend University and study
Creation of the Welfare State: feeling of disillusionment
In the middle of a Cold War, Britain was no longer a great power.
4. THEATRE BACKGROUND
By the mid-fifties, a deep transfomation was taking place in British
society and culture
Birth of experimental theatres: the Theatre of Absurd (1955) and
the Royal Court Theatre, where Osborne’s Look Back In Anger
made its debut (1956).
5. INNOVATIONS &
TRADITIONS
Divided into three acts: exposition, development and resolution
A single domestic interiorr become a squalid attic flat
Dramatic language of Jimmy’s monologues which costantly
interrupt the dialogue.
6. THEMES
Marriage: decline of the patriarchal family and love/hate relationship
between Alison and Jimmy
Class war: Jimmy belongs to a new social generation while Alison
belongs to an upper-class
Looking back in anger: the memory of the past prevent the characters
from living positively in the present
Rottenness of state: Jimmy’s protests against nuclear bomb,
Wordsworth’s poetry, people who hate jazz music
Characters: Jimmy represents the anti-hero who belongs to a lower-
middle-class and possesses enough sex appeal to make Alison and
Helena fall in love with him. Alison has given herself to Jimmy
phisically but she hasn’t embraced his ideals. Cliff is a working-class
man who represents goodness and Helena is a career woman.
7. LANGUAGE
Jimmy’s vital language: colloquialism and vulgar slands
Cliff’s good sense of humour
Alison, Helena and the Colonel adoptan upper-middle-class
register.
