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1956 and ALL THAT: the Making of Modern British Drama

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1956 and ALL THAT: the Making of Modern British Drama Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 22:49 23 September 2013 1956 AND ALL THAT Is it possible to look back beyond anger? It is said that British drama was shockingly lifted out of the doldrums by the ‘revolutionary’ appearance of John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger at the Royal Court in May 1956. But had the theatre been as ephemeral and effeminate as the Angry Young Men claimed? Was the era of Terence Rattigan and ‘Binkie’ Beaumont as repressed and closeted as it seems? In this bold and fascinating challenge to the received wisdom of the last forty years of theatrical history, Dan Rebellato uncovers a different story altogether. It is one where Britain’s declining Empire and increasing panic over the ‘problem’ of homosexuality played a crucial role in the construction of an enduring myth of the theatre. By going back to primary sources and rigorously questioning all assumptions, Rebellato has rewritten the history of the making of modern British drama. Plays discussed include: Look Back in Anger, The Entertainer, Personal Enemy, Epitaph for George Dillon—John Osborne; The Kitchen, Chicken Soup With Barley, Roots, I’m Talking About Jerusalem—Arnold Wesker; Johnson Over Jordan—J.B.Priestly; Each His Own Wilderness—Doris Lessing; Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance— John Arden; Cockpit—Bridget Boland; The Shadow Factory—Anne Ridler; A Taste of Honey—Shelagh Delaney; Salad Days—Julian Slade; and Valmouth—Sandy Wilson. Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 22:49 23 September 2013 Dan Rebellato lectures in Drama and Theatre at Royal Holloway, University of London. Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 22:49 23 September 2013 1956 AND ALL THAT The making of modern British drama Dan Rebellato Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 22:49 23 September 2013 London and New York First published 1999 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002. © 1999 Dan Rebellato The right of Dan Rebellato to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-415-18938-1 (hbk) ISBN 0-415-18939-X (pbk) ISBN 0-203-00999-1 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-19955-3 (Glassbook Format) Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 22:49 23 September 2013 CONTENTS List of illustrations vii Acknowledgements ix Introduction 1 1 ‘Why should I care?’: the politics of vital theatre 10 2 The new Elizabethans: the docile bodies of funding 37 3 A writer’s theatre: the professionalisation of the playwright 71 4 Oh for empty seats: the Royal Court and its audiences 101 5 Something English: the repatriation of European drama 127 6 Something (un)spoken: quoting, queers, and the fear of theatre 156 7 Sister Mary Discipline: growing up straight at the Royal Court 193 Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 22:49 23 September 2013 Afterword 224 Notes 227 References 239 Index 260 v Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 22:49 23 September 2013 ILLUSTRATIONS Figures 3.1 Ralph Richardson in J.B.Priestley’s Johnson over Jordan (February 1939, New Theatre) 70 Source: The Raymond Mander and Joe Mitchenson Theatre Collection 3.2 Advertisement of Olivier-brand cigarettes from Picture Post, 26 November 1956 80 Source: Advertising Archives, London 3.3 Olivier as Archie in the film of The Entertainer (1960) 80 Source: The Kobal Collection, London 3.4 Photograph of Light Console 90 Source: Frederick Bentham (private collection) 3.5 Jean Anouilh’s Ring Round the Moon (January 1950, Globe Theatre) 97 Source: The Raymond Mander and Joe Mitchenson Theatre Collection 3.6 Christopher Marlowe’s Tamburlaine the Great (September 1951, Old Vic Theatre) 97 Source: The John Vickers Theatre Collection 4.1 Noël Coward at the opening of Blithe Spirit (July 1941, Piccadilly Theatre) 100 Source: Cecil Beaton Estate, Sotheby’s, London 5.1 Bridget Boland’s Cockpit (February 1948, Playhouse Theatre) 132 Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 22:49 23 September 2013 Source: The Raymond Mander and Joe Mitchenson Theatre Collection 6.1 ‘New York’s Matinée Idol’, Plays and Players i, 1 (October 1953), p. 9 179 6.2 ‘How Press Agents Keep Fit’, Plays and Players i, 7 (April 1954), p. 17 180 vii ILLUSTRATIONS 6.3 Vince Man’s Shop (advert), Plays and Players ii, 6 (March 1955), p. 2 181 6.4 Nicholas Perry (advert), Plays and Players iv, 3 (January 1957), p. 2 182 6.5 House of Flowers (advert), Plays and Players ix, 9 (June 1962), p. 51 183 6.6 Tom Hustler (advert), Plays and Players x, 10 (July 1963), p. 30 183 7.1 John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger (revival) (October 1957, Royal Court Theatre) 221 Source: The Raymond Mander and Joe Mitchenson Theatre Collection Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 22:49 23 September 2013 viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my warm thanks to the Society for Theatre Research for a research award which made it possible to include photographs in the book. Suzanne Collins at Routledge was immensely helpful in tracking down illustrations. Special thanks must go to Richard Mangan at The Raymond Mander and Joe Mitchenson Theatre Collection for his kindness and patience in answering queries and providing several photographs; other help in the location of photographic material came from Lian at Advertising Archives, Lydia Cresswell-Jones at Sotheby’s, Janet Birkett at the Theatre Museum, Norma Campbell-Vickers at the John Vickers Theatre Collection, and Frederick Bentham who kindly located a photograph of his Light Console from his personal collection. For their help in the development of the ideas in this book I want to thank Lucie Wright, Adam Mills, Jackie Clune, Stella Bruzzi, Alison Barker, Ben Payne and Kirstie Macdonald for their great and varied contributions; Peter Coulson for starting everything off; the British Academy for funding the research; Royal Holloway for giving me a sabbatical to complete the book; Ellie Roper ‘without whom…”; the various readers, especially Neil Bartlett, Richard Cave, Alan Sinfield and Clive Barker, whose encouragement and criticisms were stimulating and generous; Peter Burton and Adrian Wright for wickedly useful information; Talia Rodgers, my editor at Routledge, for enthusiastic, helpful and patient emails—her clear- Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 22:49 23 September 2013 sighted advice always precise and welcome; David Bradby’s enthusiasm was infectious and his comments on individual chapters serenely illuminating; most of all, I want to thank Jacky Bratton, whose lucid and acute judgements (however painful) have always been for the immeasurable good of this book, and who has been simply an inspiration. ix Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 22:49 23 September 2013 INTRODUCTION ‘Come with us, Larry and me, to the National,’ [Tynan] had said to me earlier. ‘And make history.’ ‘Thank you,’ I replied. ‘I’ve already made it.’ (John Osborne, Damn You, England, 155) By 1956, British theatre was in a terrible state. The West End was dominated by a few philistine theatre managers, cranking out emotionally repressed, middle-class plays, all set in drawing rooms with French windows, as vehicles for stars whose only talent was to wield a cigarette holder and a cocktail glass while wearing a dinner jacket. While war and suffering raged around it, the theatre continued to reflect a tiny segment of society, and ignored the rest. Reluctant Debutantes held Cocktail Parties in Pink Rooms and Confidential Clerks spent Saints Days in Living Rooms at Separate Tables, all of them talking Dry Rot. Post-war hopes for a Poetic Drama revival, boosted by the fashionable success of Fry and Eliot, soon foundered on the plays’ lack of dramatic substance. Led by Kenneth Tynan, theatregoers bayed for a vigorous contemporary theatre, but despaired; where could anything better be found? Then, on 8 May 1956, came the breakthrough. At the Royal Court, Look Back in Anger, John Osborne’s fiery blast against the establishment burst onto the stage, radicalising British theatre overnight. And who would have thought it would happen at this Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 22:49 23 September 2013 crumbling little theatre in Sloane Square? In the hands of the English Stage Company with its eccentric council of management? But on 8 May 1956, everything changed. New, youthful audiences flocked to the Royal Court to hear Jimmy Porter express their own hopes and fears. At a stroke, the old well-made dramatists were shown up as stale and cobwebbed, and most of them left to 1 1956 AND ALL THAT ply their trade in films. A new wave of dramatists sprang up in Osborne’s wake; planting their colours on British stages, speaking for a generation who had for so long been silent, they forged a living, adult, vital theatre. A good thing This trite little account of the impact of the Royal Court dominates virtually everything written on modern British theatre.
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