LOOK BACK IN ANGER I

About the Play
Look back in anger is written by an English playwright, John Osborne and was first premiered at the royal court theatre, London in May 8, 1956. This three act play explored conservative theatrical convention and spoke to dissatisfied young generation. It paved the way for whole generation of angry intellectuals, determined to portray the world as it was for the young working classes; a group that was ignored by theatre in the past.
Today, though its contemporary impact has faded, it is still a vibrant and bold piece of writing. It broke the standards of ‘escapist’ theatre, and introduced ‘realism’ to the audience. The story of four young people struggling to live together and love each other is deeply upsetting. Jimmy porter’s venomous relationship with the world and the people he loves is frightening in its fury and tragic in its vulnerability.
This play represents the anger and disillusionment of young people .The richness of language and subtle theatricality of the work stands the test of time. The complex, sympathetic and entertaining nature of characters makes it more relatable to the audience even today.

About the Playwright
John Osborne was born on December 12, 1929, in Fulham, South West London. He spent his childhood in poverty and suffered from frequent extended illness. He lost his father at the age of 11. He won a scholarship to attend a private school but was expelled at the age of sixteen after he hit the headmaster who slapped him.. After that he worked for various papers. He interest in theatre grew while working as a children’s’ tutor for a repertory company. An education inspector found him to be uncertified as teacher, so he was relieved from those duties and invited to stay with the company as an assistant stage manager and eventually as an actor.
His playwriting career began while he was still an actor. He wrote five plays before the production of the Look back In anger. He has written more than seventeen stage plays, eleven plays for television, five screen plays and four books, including two volumes of autobiography.
Osborne married five times: to actress Pamela lane from 1951 to 1957: to Mary Ure, from 1957 to 1962: to Penelope Gilliatt, film and later drama critic for The Observer from 1963 to 1967: to actress Jill Bennett from 1968 to 1977 and to journalist Helen Dawson beginning in 1978. This play is said to have been inspired from his first marriage. He died of heart failure on December 24, 1994.


Director’s note
When I read this play about a year back, I was very interested to explore it on stage with Nepali actors in Nepali theatre. The context of the play, Osborne’s writing, the in-depth journey of the characters and visual images of the text moved me.
Look Back in Anger is a realistic play written in 50s .Retaining most of it as it is, we’ve played around a little with local texture, available resources and tried to do justice to this play set in Midlands, though it is the ‘timelessness’ of the writing that makes it so relevant even now.
I would be thoughtless if I do not acknowledge Sunil Pokharel, Bimal Subedi, Rajan Khatiwada, Arjun Adhikari and Mandala Theatre. I am grateful to my team.
I welcome your constructive feedback and suggestions.

ON THE STAGE
Jimmy Porter: Divya Dev
Alison Porter: Akanchha Karki
Cliff Lewis: Sulakshan Bharati
Helena Charles: Gunjan Dixit
Colonel Radfern: Suraj Malla

PRODUCTION TEAM
Design/Direction: Che Shankar
Stage Manager/Ass. Direction: Umesh Pokharel
Costume: Akanchha Karki
Set Construction: Hum BC
Sound / Video Designer: Aditya Katwal
Video / Sound Operation: Sangeet Sapkota
Light Design: Sunil Pokharel / Umesh Tamang
Light Operation: Dill Jung Gurung

Garden Theatre
We are a group of theater activists, artists, writers and dancers. Our mission is to present quality production with artistic value for the development of theatre and arts. We do children’s theatre, forum theatre and other events to support community and people through arts.
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