Introduction to Look back in anger

From my research, I found that John Osborne was born in London in 1929 in a middle class family, and he grew up not enjoying school, which was a good job really as he was expelled at the age of 15 for hitting his teacher. Although he did begin working as soon as he left school and became an actor and immediately began touring for some years where he also began writing in the theatre and cinema. 

"Osborne has been considered by some critics as a left-wing dramatist even if he never seriously took a political activity. He was simply a rebel with a strong personality." - quote from http://rosariomariocapalbo.wordpress.com/ 

I do think Osborne has a strong personality but I think that is also passion, and I think that;s what went into writing Don't Look Back in Anger, I think Osborne had strong views and a strong perception of life and certain political activity and I do think he took it seriously and I think that's evident in certain scenes of the play.

According to www.nickelinthemachine.com Look Back In Anger was written in seventeen days while sitting in a deckchair on Morecambe pier . Look Back in Anger was a strongly autobiographical piece based on Osborne's unhappy marriage to actress Pamela Lane and their life in cramped accommodation in Derby. It also contains much of Osborne's earlier life, the wrenching speech of seeing a loved one die being, for example, a replay of the death of Thomas, Osborne's father. What it is best remembered for, though, are Jimmy's tirades. Many are directed against the female characters, and this is a very distinct echo of the playwright's profoundly uneasy relations with women, starting with his mother Nellie Beatrice. I found a very interesting quote online which says "All his characters are his own voice" which I think is a perfect way to know Osbornes view of the politics then as each character is an example of Osbornes views and they are all clashing at each other,and i think their long monologues and speeches are an expression of Osbornes frustration towards society then. For example, they all share senses of isolation because they are all different views alone.

Wikipedia says that there had been general improvements in living standards, employment and educational opportunities, which allowed working-class figures like Jimmy to have a university education and which generated the sort of audience which was ready to accept a play like Look Back in Anger. Yet many people were frustrated by what was felt to be a fundamental resistance to more thorough going reform and the limited nature of the social mobility which had begun to appear. Class and background still mattered a great deal. Personally, I think at the time the audience the audience would have been 

Today we were given the script to 'Look back in anger' and had a read to ourselves. Daniel then did an exercise with us, practised by Constatin Stanislavksi. Stanislavski would tell one of his students he was hiding a pin and tell them where it is, he would tell them to re enter the room and pretend to not know where the pin is, and then eventually find it. He would then hide the pin for real and tell the person to  genuinely look around for the pin. The purpose in this exercise was to show that if you know where something is you act around it and base what you're doing on it and that also when you're unaware of whatever you're looking for actually is, true and honest action comes out. 

We did this exercise today but with money as Daniel said he wanted to use something that was more useful to us. So Beth gave Daniel her £10 note and Daniel told Beth where he was hiding it and told her to re enter the room and pretend to look for it and then actually find it. So Beth re entered the room and looked all around her, going through the seats, emptying her bag and pockets looking for this £10 note, she looked behind the curtains then worked her way to the couch where the money was hidden. Daniel then told Beth to re enter the room having hid the note and not telling Beth where he had hidden her money this time. So Beth re entered the room and was genuinely looking for her money, and was only given 60 seconds to do so. Beth didn't do any of the actions she did previously such as checking her bag/pockets, she was looking under tables, chairs, and seriously panicking to find her money. Beth did get her money in the end but the purpose was to understand and notice the difference of reactions of actually acting out trying to find the money when Beth knew where it was an the second time around actually being unaware of where her money was.

We then talked about all the characters and our first thoughts on the play and started a read through. With this play, we have to get in groups and perform a 10 minute scene in 4 weeks time. By doing a read through, it gave a us all a taste of who we wanted to play or we could work with to benefit ourselves and each other. We also got to get to know the characters. After a read through we discussed the character Jimmy especially and his actions towards his wife and his malice self. Having a little read through today made me excited for the weeks to come and experimenting with different characters.