JAMES OSBORNE
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| Hareshwar |
INTRODUCTION:
John James Osborne is an English playwright,
screenwriter, actor and critic.Most of his writing crackled with
his anger. It was he who turned anger into art. His Look
Back in Anger changed the course of British Theater and offered him wide
acclaim. He explored many themes and
genres, writing for stage, film and television. He was an
'angry young man' who raised his strong voice against the injustices of British
society.
AUTHOR'S LIFE:
Osborne was born on December 12,
1929 in South West London. His father was then a commercial artist and
copywriter. His mother worked as a barmaid in pubs most of her life. He adored his father and hated his mother. Much of Osborne's childhood was spent in near poverty. He suffered from
frequent extended illnesses. He was deeply affected by his father's death. He
became interested in theatre while working as a tutor for children. He was married
five times. Osborne died as a result of complications from Diabetes on December
24th 1994 and was buried in the churchyard at Clun. He left behind a
large body of work for the stage as well as several autobiographical works.
HIS WORKS:
Osborne's career began while he was an actor. He tried his
hand at writing plays.He wrote
25 stage plays and collaborations, five screenplays, 11 works for television,
two volumes of autobiography and sundry short pieces of social comment and
criticism. His reputation rests almost entirely on the Look Back in Anger.
His other most significant plays are The Entertainer, Inadmissible
Evidence and A Patriot for Me, Luther and The Hotel in
Amsterdam. The two published volumes of his autobiography – A Better
Class of Person: An Autobiography and Almost a Gentleman are the
most interesting part of his later output. They provide a worthwhile picture of
the environment which gave rise to Look Back in Anger.
OSBORNE’S CONTRIBUTION:
When Osborne appeared on the literary scene British plays
remained blind to the complexities of the postwar period. He single-handedly changed the course of
post-war British drama. He was the first to question the point of the monarchy
on a prominent public stage.
In Look Back in Anger Osborne
presents an antithesis to the `drawing room dramas' of the period. These dramas
often featured polished and wealthy characters from the middle and upper
classes. This play can be seen as a reaction both against the `drawing room'
dramas and the general society.
OSBORNE’S SUCCESS:
Osborne’s real breakthrough came when Look Back in Anger was
first staged on 8 May
1956. It was an outstanding success and was enthusiastically received by the
critics. It has been recognized as a
bombshell that blew up the old British theatre. It was the foundational work of
the genre for which the term “kitchen-sink drama” was coined. The gritty
realism of its setting represented a revolution in the British theatre. This
play was perceived as giving voice to the lower-middle-class. It depicts the disillusionment and
rebelliousness of post-war youth in Britain
CONCLUSION:
Osborne is appreciated for his setting, imagery and the use
of language. His setting is fantastic, his imagery is evocative and his language
is aligned with realism. This very language is a very powerful weapon of
articulation. His art of characterization is also praiseworthy. The playwright
creates his characters thoughtfully. The characters' speech and rhythms reflect
their class and education. In short, Osborne is an outstanding
anti-conventional dramatist who attracted the widest attention during the
middle of the twentieth century.
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