Look Back in Anger

“James Kingdon was absolutely mesmerising as Jimmy Porter and Joanna O’Connor simply heartbreaking as Alison. I saw the show when it first appeared in the West End all those years ago and thought this was of the same exceptional standard.” Mrs G Jones, Teacher

University educated Jimmy Porter runs a sweet stall with his friend Cliff by day and lives in an attic bed-sit with Alison, his browbeaten wife, by night. The world has changed and Jimmy’s anger at his inability to find either opportunity or his place in it has reached boiling point. Alison is fast losing the will to defend herself from her husband’s constant verbal tirades when the unexpected arrival of her compelling actress friend Helena forces her towards a decision which has devastating consequences. As pertinent, shocking and unexpectedly hilarious today as it was at it's revolutionary advent in 1956!

The Fold, Billericay Arts Association, Essex - April 2007

Directed & Produced by Joanna O’Connor

The Cast

Jimmy ... ... James Kingdon Cliff ... ... James Edwards Alison ... Joanna O’Connor Helena ... ... ... . Julia Curle Col Redfern ... Andrew Wall

John Osborne

Osborne (12th December 1929 - 24th December 1994) started writing plays while working as a repertory actor in the 1950s. He first gained international fame in 1956 when Look Back In Anger was presented at the Royal Court Theatre, London, where many of his plays were produced, including The Entertainer (1957); Epitaph For George Dillon (1958); Luther (1961); Plays for England : The Blood of the Bamburgs And Under Plain Cover (1962); Inadmissible Evidence (1964); A Patriot For Me (1965); Time Present (1968); The Hotel In Amsterdam (1968); West Of Suez (1971) and A Sense of Detachment (1972). His other plays include the musical The World of Paul Slickey (Palace Theatre – 1959); The End Of Me Old Cigar (Greenwich – 1975); Watch It Come Down (National – 1975) and Déjà Vu (Comedy Theatre – 1992) and his adaptations include Lope de Vega’s A Bond Honoure`d (National – 1966); Hedda Gabler (Royal Court – 1972); A Place Calling Itself Rome (a reworking of Coriolanus); Oscar Wilde’s The Picture Of Dorian GrAY (Greenwich – 1975) and Strindberg’s The Father (National – 1988). His work for television includes A Subject Of Scandal And Concern; The Right Prospectus; Very Like A Whale; Almost A Vision; A Gift Of Friendship; You’re Not Watching Me Mummy; Try A Little Tenderness; God Rot Tunbridge Wells and his autobiographical play A Better Class Of Person. He won an Oscar for his screenplay for Tom Jones and collaborated on the screenplays for Look Back In Anger, The Entertainer, Inadmissible Evidence and The Charge of The Light Brigade. Film and television performances include The Parachute; First Love; Get Carter, Tomorrow Never Comes and Flash Gordon. He wrote two volumes of autobiography, A Better Class Of Person and Almost A Gentleman, which were subsequently published together as Looking Back : Never Explain Never Apologise and published a volume of essays, Damn You England. John Osborne received the Evening Standard Drama Award as Most Promising Playwright Of The Year for Look Back In Anger and Best Play Of The Year Award for A Patriot For Me and Hotel In Amsterdam. He also received the “Tony” Award in New York for Best Play for Luther. The Writer’s Guild of Great Britain presented him with a Life Achievement Award in 1992.