John Osborne, Look Back in Anger, Liceo Attilio Bertolucci-ppt Venturini-Ferrari
- 1. JOHN OSBORNE Look Back In Anger
- 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.