UNIT 1 BACKGROUND TO THE PLAY

Structure

Objectives Introd~~ction Britain in tlie 1950s 1.2.1 Tlie Economy 1.2.2 Tlie Welfare Stale and Social Change 1.2.3 Political Clia~iges 1.2.4 Tlie Inteniational Scene 1.2.5 Reactions in literature and Drama British Drama from 1890 to 1956 1.3.1 Two Lilies of Develop~ne~it 1.3.2 Realism/Naturalis~iion tlie Stage 1.3.3 Expressionistic Drama 1.3.4 Effects on Style and Characterization 1.3.5 Changing Subject Matter 1.3.6 Irish and Scottish Drama of tlie Period 1.3.7 American Drama and its Use of Tragedy Osborne 1 -4.1 Biograpliy 1.4.2 Tlie Plays Let Us Sum Up Glossary Questions Suggested Reading

1.0 OBJECTIVES

Tlie objective of tliis unit is to provide an idea of the backgl.ound -- social, cultural and political -- against wliicli LookBack in Anger was written, as well as a broad outline of tlie immediately preceding and contemporary state of drama, leading LIPto a first look at tlie play itself.

1 .I INTRODUCTION

Wliile studying this, or indeed ally play, a critical vocabulary with words such as 'theatre', 'drama', 'natul*aIist' and 'expressionist' (aniong others) is inevitably used. The two such ternis tliat will recur most often tli~*oi~glioutthese ilnits, 'theatre' and 'tlrama', are often ilsed interchangeably, but they need to be u~iderstoodas different aspects or components of tlie performance of a play. The 'theatre' is the space used for a performance (the stage, and by extension, tlie auditoriu~n)as well as tlie entire system tliat makes it possible for tlik performance to be produced and to com~iiiinicatemeaning to the audience. This 'system' lias visual and auditory components such as lighting, music, props and costi~liiesand also includes the conve~itionsaccording to wliicli tlie performers and the audience interact with each otliel.. These conventions are practices rather than hard and fast rules -- for example, one theatrical convention iiiay require tlie actors to behave as if tlie audience does not exist and they are not aware of being watched, while another may il~volvetheir addressing tlie spectators directly. 'Drama', on tlie other hand, refers to plays the~iiselves,that is to say, to fictions written or designed to be perfor~nedon stage, alld collectively to tlie elitire body of such fictions at any given time or place.

As yo11 can see, the explanations given of both terms seem relevant only in tlie colltext of performance. Tliis need !lot be limited to stage performance and could as well be drama for tlie cinema, television or radio. Where then does the act of Look Back irt Allger reading or studying a play, as we are doing in these units, fit in ? Sollie theorists of drama answer tliat there are two kinds of dramatic text, the performance lest arid tlie written or literary text, and tliat these are entirely separate, almost ~~nrclatedentities. (This does not, of course, apply to those kinds of drama which are not written at all, snch as ~niineor i~nprovisedperformances). Witlio~it~iecessarily taking such an extreme position, we co~~ldsee tlie two texts as different versions of tlie same play, but - and this is important - since we shall only have to deal with the written version, keep the other performative one in mind.

Drama is among tlie no st pitblic as well as tlie most immediate of the arts, since it is usually experienced collectively rather than in solit~~deand ~111liketlie novel 01' even the short story, it uses spatial represe~ltatio~iinstead of linear narrative. This means, as Martin Esslin points out, that action is all-importaiit in drama, wliicli is an interesting idea but might at first seem rather irrelevant when applied to a play like Look Back in Anger (henceforth LBA ) wliere speech certa'inly appears to predominate. This will be discussed in detail in Unit 3, so if we allow for the ~nolnelit that a stress on action does make most drama an effective tool of co~nmunicatioii,and if required of propaganda, we can appreciate tlie use made of dram by political systems, by social workers and activists (street plays are co~n~no~ilyused thus in India) and by religion (almost all drama originated in religious ritual).

The idea that the theatre, because of its self-consciously illusory nature, in sonle way both reflects and sy~nbolizesthe 'real' world is a very old and widespread one. However., the relation between drama and society is complex, and liieans tliat instead of sirnply lnirrori~igor seeking to clia~igesocial conditions, plays are also shaped by them, so~netitiiesin ways of wliicll the dramatist riiay be illlaware at the ti~ne.This partly explairis wliy different forms of dram have been popular, and the content of plays lias varied so widely, at different times. Look for instance at the way in wliicli religious (in tlie specific sense of theological) concenis, though present in some of Shakespeare's plays, are certainly not a cliief area of interest in them, while a celitury earlier they llad forined tlie main subject matter of the ~noralityplays, and at the way iu wliicli his choice of distant of imaginary places- Bohemia, a~icientEgypt, tlie forest of Arden -as locales, changes with Restoration drama's usual setting in . contemporal-y London. Or, for an example nearer home, think of how the figure of the 'NRI' or the Indian brought up abroad, riow a co~n~no~iplaceof Hindi cinema (arguably a kind ofdrama), is largely absent fi-om the fil~iisof the 1950s when emigration was rarer.

There is of course always the objection to sucli an eniphasis on the social in tlie treatment of drama with the argurnelit tliat a play is not some indepeudently occusring phenori~enabut is created by one or more persons arid can be rlla~iipiilatedand co~itrolledby them in a way that reality cannot be -- a fairly obvious point, but one that we do tend to lose siglit ofwhile placing the play in its social context. Having said that, however, I.tlii~ikit would be helpful to try and get some solet of picture of the time and place in wllicl~Osbosne both wrote and set LookBackin Alger, before we start our study of tlie play. Do fry and have the text read by the time you fi~iisli this unit so that you can rmake the required connections but while doing so please don't apply this extrinsic information too rigidly to tlie text by expectirlg tliat everything in the play will co~lforriito it.

1.2 BRITAIN IN THE 1950s

It might be ~~sefi~lto begin with an observatiori whicli is interesting in that it conies from an Indian visiting England in 1955, on the eve of a general election. Nirad

' Chaudliary in A Passnge to Eltglund writes-

For individuals, as for nations, doing well in life and doing sorilethi~igill life are co~itradictoryaims. Tlie real test for tlie Welfare State will be whether it has beer1 able to liierge the two ends, so far as they can be merged. But it seems to me that this very Backgroui;' i11ipo1-tantcondition oftlie Welfare State's success is diffic~lltof fulfilment in contemporary England. Tliis difficulty is not due to an absence of men with a will to do somethiog. The real trouble is that tliere is very little to do and it is very difficult to arrive at a clear perception of what to do. On tliis point, ever since the end of the war 1 liave liad a feeling that the E~iglisllpeople are in tlie closing stages of one qycle of tlieir existence and have not as yet entered on another. (A Passage to Englund , pp. 2 1 4-5)

Despite the rather vague gerieralizatioli of its opening statelnelit , I tllillk the passage llelps to provide a sense oftlie ambivalence that came to prevail in British social atid political life in tlie first decade after the country's victory in the Second World War. This victory was followed by tlle coming to power in 1945 of a Labour government under Cle~iielitAttlee and the establish~ile~ltof tlle Welfare State wliich aimed to provide to its citizens social security and benefits such as health care, housing and old age pensions. The idealism attendant on tliis socialist, utopia11vision also resulted, in sollie quarters at least, from the perceptiori of Britain as beginning to leave beliilid ller imperialist past ( starting with tlie independence of India in 1947) though this was hardly as yet seen as an ongoing process. Tlie coronation of Queen Elizabeth 11 in June 1953 served as tlie occasion for a national celebration, particularly since tlie country saw itself as leaving behind the recent past of war, conflict, depression and poverty. Tliis optimism is evident in tlie phrase 'the new Elizabethan age', widely used at tlie time.

J.B Priestley in 1934 described what lie saw as the co-existence of three Englands , "Old England, tlie country of the catliedrals and ~ni~iistersand Inallor houses and inns, of Parson arid Squire ... Nineteenth-Centi~ryEngland, the industrial .England of coal, iron, steel, cotton, wool, railways ... and New E~igland",tlle last of these influenced by American consumerism and egalitarianism and based on mass-production atid I I urbanization. The first two Englands, familiar to us from the ~lovelsof George Eliot and Dickens, were probably anachronisms by the 1950s, tliougl~remembered and mourned by people like Colo~lelRedfern wllotn Jilnlny compares to Priestley and I wlio ad~ilitsto being 'an old plant left over from tlie Edwardian wildenless' (LBA, 11,ii). But tliere remaiiied sollie uncertainty about where 'New England' was going.

1.2.1 Tlle Economy

Tlie late 1940s liad been a period of slow eco~iolnicrecovery for Britain, further Iiampered by the fact that she was still using large sillns of money to retain her military and political power in Inany parts of tlie world and spending beyond her means on defence. Tlie United States, on tlie other hand, liad recently benefitted ecolioliiically since tlie war liad acti~allyhelped to pi111the econolny out of depression. Britain llad bee11 duri~agtlie latter part of tlie war, and still was, heavily dependant on A~iierica~lfinancial aid and ollly managed to pay off her debts to the U~iitedStates by giving up all lier assets in that country. Under\tliese circumstances, the arts and the theatre could not of co~~rsebe among tlie country's most important priorities, and they suffered from a lack of funds and of silpport from the state,

Tlie 1950s saw tlie eventual recovery of the British economy, with an elid to ratio~ling and a general i~ii~rovemehtin living standards, At the time, liiost people began to see the period as one of prosperity and in 1955 the Daily Express described this sense -- ' . . . higher pay packets, lower taxes, full shops and nice new homes' while in 1958, Macliii l Ian was elected as Prime Minister on the strength of his slogan, "You never liad it so good !"

Along with Britain's improved econoliiic condition canie state support for tlie arts, sir~cegreater attention could now be given to the111 and to leisure industries. One irliporta~itdevelopment was tlie 'l\lational Theatre Act of 1949, wliich provided for a B(,eK A,lgcr new theatre to be fi~iancedand built by tlie Labour gover~imeat.In practise, however. the implementation of such proposals took quite a long time.

State intervention iri tlie econoniy through planning or control -- such as bringing tlie trade unions directly into the government -- saw to it tliat greater equality, both of income and of oppo~t~uiitiesfor employment, beca~iiethe most desired goal and was in fact attained to an extent unp~.ecedentedin England. Beliind this cliange was tlie experience of tlie war years, ~iotonly those of tlie recently ended war but also tlie earlier one -- tlie First World War, wliicli had, in England at least, effectively done away with tlie old nineteenth celitury concept of a Ii~issez-jbirseconomy.

Tlie ack~lowledgedneed for a new systelii went along witli tlie determination to avoid the mistalces ofcontemporary Colilmunist and Fascist (ie. tlie extrenie Left and the extreme Right) experiments in planning, and led to tlie adoptioli of ideas put forlvard by liberals in tlie inter-war years (contained in tlie Liberal Party's ma~iifestoof 1928, Bri/ni~'.sInhnirinlFzrizn.e) which stressed state control with a commitment to social justice tIi~.oi~gllwelfare. Interestingly, these changes were seen as desirable by all the political parties and if there was any opposition, it caliie fsoui some among those -- tlie upper and middle classes -- who stood to lose by them. Even here, resistalice was tempered by tlie realizatio~i(tlio11gl1 it niay seem patronizirig) tliat some return was due to the working classes for the way in which they had fouglit the war 011 behalf of a syste~iithat liad been distinctly i~rikiiidto tliem.

Social conflicts however, remained arid were heightened by tliese economic developments, partly because many were ~~nderstaudablysceptical of the egalitarianis~iiprofessed by people wlio were themselves privileged. It is to this that Jimmy Porter sarcastically refers in saying "I ouglit to send tlie Bishop a subscription . . . He's upset because someone lias suggested tliat lie supports tlie rich against tlie poor. He says lie denies tlie difference of class disti~ictio~~s."(LookBuck in Anger, I)

1.2.2 The Welfare State and Social Change

The policies oftlie Welfare State, when put illto practice, resulted in a distinct cliange ill tlie social structure of Britain. Greater economic equality, brought about partly through disc\-iminatorytaxation, led to a further levelling of the classes, a process tliat had begirt1 during tlie war. With tlie iricreasi~igprosperity and stability ( in material ter~iis)of the working classes, tlie old 'condition of England' question resurfaced. Tlie 'question' now was not, as earlier, one of tlie middle classes bringing 'cuIture' to I the masses, but of the idea that class differences II~LIS~go in order for culture, in its new and extended sense as involving tlie wliole population, to exist. Ji~il~nyPorter is , not to be b~.ougIitto tlie 'redbrick' university (as Leonard Bast in Ho,vcrrci~EII~ is

'brought' to Beethoven) rather the impo~.tanceattached to tlie redbrick university is to , be undercut, and indeed, Ji~iitnydoes so effectively. The term 'working class' itself

became an increasingly nebulous category since more and better paid jobs liad ! resulted in increasing social mobility. Co~nmonstyles of living witli simila~~liousing. food and clothing, as well as the common forms of ente~.tainmentprovided by tlie i mass media, especially televisio~~,replaced tlie for~iierclear distinctions between tlie classes -- a system where it liad been possible for an observer to place people socially simply by a glance at their dress. A fi~rtlierblurring of society's old classifications came about witli tlie begi~i~ii~igof the imrnigration illto Britain of Illany Asialis and West Indians, which carried on until tlie 1970s.

One ~ilajorchange that affected all levels of society in both private arid pi~blicsplieres came about as a result of ~nanywomen clioosi~igto retain the jobs they had liad to take up di~ri~igtlie war, a~iclan increasing n~lmberclloosing to work in areas other tha11 tlie traditional ones of teaching and nursilig, tl10~1g)iIioi~sewo~.k did still reliiaill the'woman's cliarge-notice tliat ill Look Backill Anger, Alisoli is sliow~ias constantly busy either ironirig or making tea and is grateful for Iielp in tlie kitcliell when Helena arrives. Tile arts now became, more than ever before, olie of the concems of the state , a Background concern embodied in what had become an Englisli national institution duri~igtlie war, tl~ougliI do not suppose it is still thougilt of as s~lcliby liiost people who watch or listell to it today -- the BBC. State funding saw to it that a n~~mberof ~nunicipal tlleatres were built as part of the reconstr~~ctio~iof city centres damaged during the war. 1956, tlie year in which Look Back in Anger appeared, also saw the arrival of rock 'n roll music in Britain through tlie film Rock Around the Clock which actually caused riots in some cinemas. 'Culture' clearly had begun to mean more than the fine arts or 'good' literature, though there were those, like T.S.Eliot, who felt that such de~nocratisationthreatened culture wliich they saw as tlie creation of an elite group. The state provided, and made co~nPLI lsory , free secondary education for everyone up to tlie age of fifteen witli tlie result tliat people from any social background could now go to university. In practise, of course, not everyone who managed to go to Oxford or Cambridge fou~idlife easy there--one novel written around this time that deals with the issue is Philip Larkin's ,Jill.

nese new realities and ideas resulted in a certain amount of class tension. Most ordinary people were now better off than ever before, but at tlie expense of a minority who saw tl~e~nas a threat, in terliis SLICII as, Osborne says, "the monster on the street cor~ier."Osborne goes on to state tliat his own sympathies are firmly witli the 'monster', tl~ouglihe is clearly less concerned with social reform than witli tlie idea of a cause and tlie character of the rebel. He is also sceptical about tlie success of tlie Welfare State as an enterprise, describing it as "everyone moping about, having to bear the burden of everyone else." (Diary entry from 1955)

'The other contemporary problen~that Osborne deals witli at solne length is the q~~estionof what place the traditional values of patriotism, loyalty to family, and cliivalry to women had in the new social order. Tliere were always those, like Ji~ii~nyPorter, who felt that tliese ideals, tl~ouglihighly prized, were at best esse~itiallyirrelevant to the lives of most people and at worst an i~npositionon tlie rest of tlie countl.y by tlie upper classes, almost a co~ispiracyto keep tlii~igsgoing the way they wanted. What, for instance, could 'public service' mean to someone without a .job atid no hope of getting one, except a polite abstraction ? And yet, as Jimmy senses, it was tliese same loyalties - to country, falllily, 'tr~~tli'and 'morality' -that provided the causes people need :

Tliere aren't any good, brave causes left. If tlie big bang does come, and we all get killed off, it won't be in aid of the old-fashioned, grand design. It'll just be for tlie Brave New-notl3ng-very-11111cIi-thank-you.About as pointless and inglorious as stepping in front of a bus. (LBA, Ill i)

I 1.2.3 Political Changes

The confi~sionsbetween a stated social agenda, the failure to know where and how it was to be effectively put into practice, and tlie resentment it aroused in some quarters, let to a gradual disillusionment with tlie co~npro~nisesof tlie Labour government and to the Co~iservativereturn to power under Churchill in 195 1.

Another reason for tlie Labour defeat was the increasing identification, in tlie eyes of most people, of tlie pal-ty with those sections of the working classes who were poor and labouring. his worked to their disadvantage because larger numbers of people were nioving out of this category and because such class-based politics were now , beginning to be considered obsolete, Labour was even acci~sedof trying to keep class tensions alive so as to preserve its ow11 votes. But pi~blicunliappiness wit11 politicians continued since the Conservative gover~iment'sdecision to retain the Welfare State programme was ~~nexpectedlyseen as showing up the lack of a co~isiste~itpolicy of its own. This apparent moving together of the two major political parties seemed to negate the integrity and political convictions of both, I...

Look B~ckirr Anger though the Co~iservativevictory was repeated in 1955 and again in 1959. Thc . description of Alison's brother Nigel, though probably meant to be seen as motivateo by personal dislike on Jimmy's part, does put across something of tliis suspicion of politicians:

"He'll end up in tlie Cabinet one day, make no mistake. But somewliere at tlie back of his mind is the vague knowledge that lie and Iiis pals Iiave been plundering and fooli~igeverybody for generations." (LBA,l)

The general mood in Britain was therefore one of disillusionment witli tlie entire political process, alo~igwitli a divided response to tlie fact of social change. The dissatisfaction ~.emainedliowever largely aimless and undefined, taking no form of direct political protest, and tliis inaction was in itself fi~rtliercause for cliscontent.

1.2.4 The International Scene

Plerity of events took place on this front tliat were conducive to public cynicism. Tliis supposed 'time of peace' saw tlie development of the hydrogen bomb ant1 the beginning of a race for arms tliat eve~iti~allygrew illto tlie Cold War. Soviet Russia proved, by militarily crushing a revolution against tlie Russian-imposed govern~nent in Hungary that a Commi~niststate co~~ldact in an i~nperialistmanner. At the same time, Britain found herself, together with France, liolding onto her inlperial~st interests by trying to prevent the Egyptian government from taking over tlie Suez . Canal. Tlle United Nations eve~ituallyreti~riied tlie Canal Zone to Egypt and tlie failure of the atteillpt o~ilydeepened tlie sense of humiliation in England. This humiliation existed on two levels- practical, since such politically aggressive gcstilres were clearly no longer possible, and moral, since the failure to refrain from making them was a reflection on tlie country. Tlie play (LBA) also refers to the Spanisli Civil War (of tlie 193 Os), which had bee11 seen as a great cause by thc previous generation, and in which Jimmy Porter's fntlier received the wounds that killed Iiim.

1.2.5 Reactions in Literature and Drama

What then were tlie ways in which tliis general feeling of resentment expressed itself! Jolin Russell Taylor suggests that tlie expression in literature (and later, in life) tool( i two forms-cynicism and rededication. Tlie first is the positio~iof many characters in tlie novels of Evelyn Waugli or of a character like Jim Dixon in Kingsley Amis' Lucky Jim, who is irreverent and defiant but \vitIio~~tany serious aims or a dedication to ally cause. Amis describes Dixon in Lzrcky Jini as often giving in to social pressures and realities: "But economic necessity and tlie call of pity were a strong combitlation; topped up by fear, as both were, they were invincible.

The sanie concerns could be seen as prese~itin Amis' poem Agnirtst Ro~t~~mticis~r~,a kind of manifesto where a particular view-secular and rational--of tlie worltl is I advocated for tlie age, tllrougli a rejection of the Romantic stress on passio~iand rebellio~i:

Over all, a grand meaning fills the scene, And sets tlie brain raging witli prophecy, Raging to discard real time and place, Raging to build a better time and place.. .

By showing LIP tlie Romantic zeal for reform as both irrational and impractical, the poem could be leead as pilttirlg forward a certain kind of cynicism, or more correctly a scepticism, about what is to be gained fro111 radical tltought or action.

'Rededication', on tlie other hand, involves active and effective (usually political) protest. Such clearcut distinctions are not quite sufficient to describe a character like Jimlny Porter. While expressing a cynical attitude, he reveals an anguish that is Inore Background than cynical and yet does not lead him to action. 1 am also not sure how far Taylor's idea can be applied to.the domestic, faniilial level on wliicli Osborne's play takes place, an area that had itself rapidly changed in the post war years, largely due to the cllange in women's lives when tliey began to work. 1 sliall return to this issue of tile relations and cliangi~igequations between the sexes, in greater detail in the next unit (see 2.4) but nieanwhile should like to stress tliat in Osborne's work at least, it seems to fiaiction more as a space for tlie treatment of character and less as a cornlnerit on the co~iteniporarystate of things. The issue of class might seein to be a relatively ,more explicit concerii, but is also subservient to Osborne's stated aitn--to give 'lessons in feeling'. In both cases it becomes important, I think, to see the-plays of the 1950s as not simply provoked by prevalent co~iditions,social or political, but also as i~iforniedby them and thus as both reacting to, and reflecting, conte~nporary 'reality'.

1.3 BRITISH DRAMA FROM 1890 TO 1956

1.3.1 Two Lines of Development

It is not possible to see a single chronological line of develop~nentin early twentieth celitury British drama, but I use the year 1890 as a convenient starting point, following Cliristoplier Innes, who traces tlie beginning of modern drama in England to the date of Shaw's lecture on 'The Quiiitessence of Ibsenism'. When tlie changes in British drama are seen in stylistic and thematic (rather than chronological) terms, we can identify tlie different genres of Realism, Comedy and Poetic drama. Another, and for our purpose, perhaps Inore useful nietliod would be to trace two simultaneous progressions in British drama - the Realist / Naturalist and the Expressionist, and then to look at tlie areas where tliey overlap.

1.3.2 Realism/Naturalism on the Stage

To begin with a working definitioli of these terms, Realism here means the reproGuction or representation of ordinary or 'real: life on the stage. The term is often used interchangeably with Naturalism, a slightly inaccurate usage since Naturalism nieans tlie use of realist methods to convey a certain pliilosophical belief (that everything is a part of nature and can be explained by natural and material causes) often doing this through tlie use of symbols. Naturalism does seek a realistic representation of life on tlie stage, but at the same time rejects the idea that art should try to show the most beautiful and ihspiring aspects of life. Realism as a category is better used to define the focus, usually social, of certain plays rather than their form.

Sliaw's ideas about tlieatre and its social role remained very influential even after his death in 1950, and some of Osborne's concerns can be traced to him. Shaw had advocated a direct social fuliction for theatre, in saying tliat it ought to try and alter public views and conduct -

Call you believe that tlie people whose coliceptions of society and conduct, whose power of attention and scope of interest, are measured by the British theatre as it is today, can either handle this colossal task themselves, or understand and support the sort of mind and character that is (at least comparatively) capable of handling it ? For remember : what our voters are in the pit and gallery they are also in tlie polling booth. (From the Epistle dedicatory to Man and superman)

Shaw was also influenced by Ibse~i'srejection of the earlier prevalent colicept of the 'well-made play' and of ~iielodramawith its exaggerated tlteatricality. His ideal was .a 'rational' drama that dealt with, and perhaps offered solutiol~sto, social issues such as those of poverty and the relatior1 ofecoliomics to religion, which are his chief I I - - Look Buck in Anger concerns in Major Barbaru. Abstract ideas such as those of heroism in Arnzs crndthe Man are also dealt with only .in a specific social context.

- Dramatists like Oscar Wilde and later, Galswortliy and ~rintille-Barker,shared this empliasis on tlie social, often using co~iiedyand working tlirough distortion to make their points. W i lde's Lady Bracknel 1 (in The Importance ofBeing Earnest) to whom Jimmy compares Helena, is almost a caricature of a certain social type, one example of sucli distortion.

Naturalism on the stage was certainly helped along by the many technical i~i~lovations ofthe time, tlie most important among which were realistic costumes, and the sound effects and variable lighting t!lat became possible with the use of electricity. When it is seen against the background 1 have described earlier, wliicli included war, the gradual loss of empire, urba~iizatiouand tlie rise of socialism, it is not surprisi~lgthat natural ism ajso brought ~iationalistconcerlis back to the British stage (from which they had been largely absent since Elizabethan times) and theatre began to be used for propaganda. The function of plays during each war became to provide entertainment that was both escapist and patriotic. New playwrigl~tswlio dealt with these developments satirically, emerged after both World Wars - Noel Coward in the 1920s and Christopher Fry in the 1950s. An indication ofthe importance these nationalist colicerlis assumed for drama in wartime, is the fact that Shaw, who took an ico~ioclasticattitude to the war of 19 14-1 8 was te~nporarilybanished from tlie stage despite his status as a famous and popular playwright. 1.3.3 Expressionistic Drama

Expressionism, the other area ~nentionedabove, began in early tweritietll century Ger~na~iyand was much more a European than a British movement, It substit~~ted,or sougllt to substitute, the personal vision of the world for the representation of external reality. Whep applied to the theatre it meant a reaction against realism, with a stress on inner psychological states. Naturalis~nrelied on the cumulative effect of external detail reproduced as closely as possible - this was discarded by. Expressionism, wli icli instead sought maximum expressiveness. I use the term loosely to cover a whole set of developments (known as avant-garde) in European drama. These were liiovernents sucli as the Theatre of the Absurd, Artaud's Theatre of Cruelty and Brecht's Epic Tlieatre. Except for the last ofthese (Brecht) the influence of these developments on British drama was both narrow and short lived. Epic Theatre which exposes theatricality and rejects stage illusion (the illusion that what happens on stage is real and actual) became relevant to British drama mainly because of the social and political perspectives it retained,wliicli otlier avant-garde movements did not.

1.3.4 Effects on Style and Characterization

What were the effects on style of Britisli drama's remaining largely Naturalistic rather than Expressio~iistic? For one, it meant the rejection of the abstract in preseritation and of mythical, allegorical or even historical characters. Tliese survived only in the area of poetic drama which used verse and usually liad religious tliemes - T.S kliqt's Murder in the Cathedral is one example. Image and metaphor, on which most absurdist drama relied, also,took a back seat.

Nortllrop Frye has identified four levels of discourse which apply to drama as well as to the novel : the realm of myth, wliere tlie audience looks at the characters as niuch above them, as gods; the realm of tlie heroic, where the audie~icelooks up to the characters as heroic; when the audience sees the characters as being on the same level as themselves, this is the realistic style; and if the audience looks down on the ' characters as contemptible w beneath them, the mode is ironic. Myths and heroic pl&yswill obviously require Inore poetic, stylised or elevated language than the otlier .* " i - catagries. Realistic drama, on the otlier hand, demands everyday prose, wliich tlius . '. 3 = . c,,%.* -pea . bee@$& tlie most common style or form of expression of drama in Britain at tliis time. r*Y' * , 12 M~~ltidi~iie~isio~iaIand co~nplex character, realistic siti~atio~isand conversatio~i,and Background tile relation of tile individual to tlie group, all of wliicli are present in Osborne's work, relnained tlie desired focus of post-war drama in England.

I 1.3.5 Changing Subject Matter ;I Olle development which can be seen as relevant to tlie entire period we are looki~igat, 1 alld to al[for~iisof drama, was the everltual success in tlie 1960s of canipaig~isbegun at the tilrli of tlie ce~itilryfor the abolition of censorship arid the founding of a llatio~~altheatre. This meant the extension of subject matter in drama to areas that % I were earlier not considered proper for tlie stage, anlong tlie~ntlie details of domestic 7 life. Plays tliat concerned tlie~nselveswit11 such details were called 'kitchen sink 1 drama' by sollie critics wlio saw such matters as trivial, drab and too far removed / fro111die glalilour tbat they were used to associating wit11 tlie stage. Osbor~ie'searly iplays, as well as those of Arnold Wesker, were included by many in this category, 1 since both depicted domestic tasks being carried out on stage - Alison's ironing in I Look Back in Angerdand tlle wash ing-up tliat is carried on for most of Wesker 's play I Roots, are two often-cited examples. 1 1 ,4l~otlierfeature of postwar Britisll drama was tlie effort to make itself once again 1 accessible and interesting to working class audiences, an effort that was required in order to change the general perception of the theatre as tlie preserve of an educated, I cultured elite, as well as to ensure the survival of plays as a form of entertainment in the face of increasing co~ilpetitio~ifrom the cinema. Part of this effort was the rediscovery by dramatists of popirlar culture, particularly of tlie use of music (in the fosii~sof botli song and dance) as an allnost necessary part of drama, a common enough device in Elizabetlia~itimes as well as in tlie nineteenth century, but one that had beconle rare in the recent past. Surprisingly enough, tliese attempts at ! 'popularizing' drama coexisted with the writing and production of plays (for example, those of Samuel Beckett) which do not seen1 to concern theniselves with popular taste or with public demand, though of course tliese are both very generalized ) categories. But even tliese 'difficult' plays were largely free of the older ideas that certain types of drama are inherently superior to others-for example, tragedy as being 'better' than comedy-and of tlie ~lotio~~that all forins of entertainment are not suitable for every social class. I

I 1.3.6 Irish and Scottish Drama

I Though both Shaw and Wilde were Irish, they belonged to the English tradition of modern, realist, prose dmma. It was in Ireland, especially in tlie Abbey Theatre in Dublin, that the begillni~lgsof ~noderilpoetic drama lay, with the verse dramas of

1 Yeats and Lady Gregory. Sy~ige(wlio wrote in prose) and O'Casey were two other influential Irish playwriglits, and Samuel Beckett became the first Irish dramatist of ,; international importance (though he was act~~allypart of the anti-realist European j dramatic tradition.) J.M Barrie, a Scottish playwrigllt was extremely popi~laron the [ Lolidoli stage, despite -or perliaps as a result of-liis tnovilig away fro111 realist conventions by tlie use of fantasy, something evident from Peter Pan, a non-dramatic , work which is also his best remembered.

1 ~ilentionthese dramatists in order to qualify the idea of 'British' drama as a unified whole, unaffected by regional differences. In addition, if what we are looking at is a i number of patterns and move~nentswith varied influences, rather than a line of ; progress, we also need to take into account tlie Alnerican drama of tlie period. 1.3.7 American Drama and its Use of Tragedy

b .a Ame~.icandrania coricerned itself with olie i~nportaritarea that the British theat&. I*' neglected at this time - that of tragedy. Though a vexed term with a complex liistoky of theory and practise, tragedy can be rather broadly defined as an interrogation of Look Bitck iit Anger human nature, of its relation to the universe, and how these are affected by and giv rise to disaster, as well as being a protest against the illexplicable nature and ilijusti of suffering. It has been argued that the modern world (and by extension, the modt stage) call provide a space that is only potentially tragic and falls short of actl~al tragedy as present in classical and Elizabethal~models. For example, does Arthur Miller's play The Death of aSalesmarr co~itaintragedy or merely patlios ? I do not think there is a clear answer, but the questiori could be considered in ternis of the 11 dimensio~~provided by modern psychology, wliich was not present to classical tragedy. This involves a 1.etl1inkingof the term itself, or at least a broadeni~igof its critical usage. Rayliiond W illiams argues in Modern Tragedy that while tragedy an bourgeois society might appear to be mutually exclusive, to say that tragic concertis like those described above have disappeared fro111 the modern stagr wo~lldbe to ignore, in favour of an abstract theory, a large body of evidence to the contrary. American drama at this time did seem to focus less on society arid more on the iridividual, than did the work of British playwrigllts like Osborlie, Terence Rattigay and Joe 01-ton. American dramatists like Miller, O'Neill and Tennessee Williams dl not see tragedy as illco~npatiblewith realism, or for that matter with modernism, as most British drama appeared to. It is interesting to consider the i~nplicationsof this for Osborne. Coi~ldJi~llniy Porter be seen as a potentially tragic hero who remains u~irealizeddue to co~~strai~itsof time and place, of ( as he says himself) tlie lack of causes ? Another British dramatist to think of in this connection is Harold Pinter will does seen1 to use tragedy in a new way- through silence resulting from tlie breakdown of speech, as happens in The Caretaker. 1.4 OSBORNE

1.41 Biography

John Osborne was born on 12 December 1929 into a working class family of pub keepers. This was his ~notller'sfamily; his father Tllo~nasOsborne, who was a colnrnercial artist, died of ti~bercolosiswliile Osborne was still a cliild. Osborne, though very attached to his father, did not spare in his plays the 'genteel' middle- class to wliich liis father's falllily belonged. Yet lie also mentions happy days spent in his childhood with his paternal grandparents. He describes 11;s ~iiother'sfaliiily thus:

My mother's parents were p~~blica~is. .. and whenever they got together for some celebration, there woi~ldbe plenty to drink, however hard things were: tliat is something middle-class people find difficult to understand or forgive ... Tllere would be battling shrieks Lf laughter, yelling, ignoring, bawling, everyone trying to get his piece in .. . They talked about their troubles in a ' way that would embarrass ally middle-class observer. I've no doubt tliat they! were often boring, but life still had meanilig for thern. Even if they did get drunk and figlit, they were responding;.tliey were riot defeated. (Drclcrrc/tion,ed. T. Mascliler, p.80)

This passage ~iiakesevident at least two points which are relevalit to tlie play we are studying. Osborue clearly uses the 'middle-class' as a negative standard against which to describe the family he grew up in, thus implicitly allying himself with tlie 'working class' to which sucli a fa~nilybelongs. Jimmy Porter's hatred of tlie middle-classes - not in either case a particularly clearly defined category - is very similar. Also, a statement like 'they were responding; tliey were riot defeated', serves to romanticize the working class falllily, Ilowever true it may have been of the particular individuals described in the passage.

After attending state schools and later a ~iii~iorpublic school (from wliere he was expelled for retaliating in kind when the lleadlnaster slapped him) Osborne worked at various jobs, writing copy for trade journals and tutoring children in English and

14 7 i Background I ~~ith~i~etic.He tlierl became assistant stage manager to a repertory colnpany and lei ~lillls~lfbegan to act in 194.8. A4 to the inevitable question of liow his writing might "1 llave been influenced by his stage career, Osbome admitted, 31' Well, I always enjoy acting and if i were offered a really good part, I'd be tempted. But I've never taken myself seriously as an actor, and neither has anyone else. It wo~~ldbe i~ld~~lgeritto do it any more ! Of co~~rsewhen 1'1n e\\ writing I see all the parts being played beautifi~llyby me, to perfection ! ("That Awful Museum", interview with Joll~iFindlater. Twentieth Centi~ry, I February 196 1 ) , ld j ; ' 111 195 1, Osborne married the actrss Pamela Lane and tllougll they divorced in 1957, [ it was while he was living with her that he wrote Look Back in Anger. The dramatic 1 sit~latio~~, especially the portrayal of the married couple was, lie himself admitted - sayilig that the marriage cerelnony in the play was "a fairly accurate description of iour wedding."-+nore than sliglltly influenced by the experience of his own marriage. id / Like Alison, Osborne's wife left him while she was pregna~~t,only unlike Alison, she 1 did not return. Her parents' disapproval of Osborne was so strong that they actually / llad him followed by a detective during the couple's engagement, so Jimmy's accusing Alison's parents of similar tactics is not as far-fetched as it might sound. I Pamela, when shown the ~na~iuscriptof Look Buck in Anger remarked that it was 0 "dull and boring", but when Osborne took it to the Royal Court Tl~eatre,the response , was e~~tl~~~siasticenough for him to note in his diary -

- There was no questio~~in my mind on that muggy August day that withi~\less - than a year - and on my father's birthday [8 May]-- Look Back in Anger would have opened, in what still seems like an iriordinately long, sharp, glittering sumlner.

1.4.2 The Plays

I 1 will here otlly list Osborne's plays (subsequent to LBA in 1956 ) in order of I performance, A more detailed analysis of Osbonle's place in British drama will be

I found in Unit 5.

, The Entertainer Epitaph for George Dillon ( this actually predates LBA ) ' The Worl~lof Pod Slickey I A Subject of Scundal and Concern

I Luther q Pluj~sfor England , A P~ltrioffor Me ! Itiadnii,ssible Evidence I A Bor~dHoriourcd I Tinie Present and The Hotel in Atlisterdanr i 1.5 LET US SUM UP

1 The distinction between 'theatre' and 'drama' needs to be kept in mind in order lo avoid co~ifi~sionin our use of the terms. This distinction is also necessary for the 1 i placing of a play in its social context, since it highlights the public aspect of the 1 theatre, as against the dramatic text wliicll can iel~ditself to private reading. I - jI A study of Look back in Anger demands a consideration of the social, economic.

I political and c~~lt~rralcilallges that Britain underwent in the period iln~nediately / followi~igthe Second World War. These changes include the establishment of the I Welfare State, its functio~ii~lg~~nder successive Labour and Co~lservative 1

I

- goverllments, an econom,icoriris foll~wedby relative stabilization, a weakelling of Look Buck in Anger tlie rigid heirarchies or dass, and the beginnings ~f the diaintegratio~iof Empire.

Developments in drama at tlie time saw a predominallce of rehlist plays on the British stage. The play under coasideratioli here remains true to this category in its form and structure, and lnany of the changes mentioned above resurface in its treatment of nationality, class and gender, - 1.6 GLOSSARY

Ambivalence Uncertai~lty,si~liultaneous but oppos~i~igrespoase to something

Anachronism Something that is out of date, more apprspriate to an earlier period.

'Condition of England' A phrase first used by Th~~nasCarlyle in the nineteenth century, expressirig concern over the poverty and misery caused by the Industrial Revolution. A body of fiction with sucli social colicerns appeared at tlie time.

Contemporary Of the same time or period

Laissez-faire Literally, leave free to do as tliouglit best. Fril~cipleof laon-interference by govertiment in trade and industry.

Theological Pertai~~ingto religious doctrine or dogma n!. to the study of tlie precepts and beliefs of a religious system. Tlie term is here used with reference to Christianity.

The 'well-made play' Term applied to a neatly constructed play with all tlie convetitional requireme~itsof plot and structure. Such-plays were especially cornillon io Britain in tlie 1930s. I

1.7 QUESTIONS

Q1. Differentiate between tlie ter~lls 'theatre' and 'drama'. Wliat are till ilnplications of this difference for tlle stlldy of a play ?

42. Do the social and economic realities of Britain in the 1950s find expression, direct 01. indirect, in Look Back in Anger ? If so, how ?

43. Indicate the ways in which Osborne tries to provide 'lessons in feeling' in tlie plfly. Do you think the attempt is successful ?

I Baclcgrounti 1.8 - SUGGESTED READING Primary material

Osborne, 501111 . A Better Class ofPerson: An Autobiography 1929-1956, London: Faber & Faber, 198 1

Secondary material

Bergonzi, Bernard Wartime and After~ilalh:English Literalure and its background 1939 - 60, Oxford: University Press, 1993.

Chambers, Colin Playwrights' Progress; Parterns of Postwar and Mike Priors British Drama, Oxford: Amberlane Press, 1987.