In his programme to the current production of Look Back in Anger at the Almeida Theatre lecturer and author Matthew Franks refers to the danger of producing Look Back in Anger. Why do we return to them, he asks, of it and Roots by Arnold Wesker, which is showing at the same time as John Osborne’s play?
It is a valid query. How can a man who sits all Sunday smoking a pipe and reading the ‘posh’ papers be deemed either angry or young, in this current age? Is the play dated in its attitudes? Director Atri Banerjee has made no attempt to contemporise Jimmy Porter. The only detail that seems out of place with the 1950s in which it is set is a loose leaf salad they have for tea. Apart from that everything is of the period. Even the stage design has a traditional feel. The actors take turns to sit around the kitchen table listening to Jimmy hold court. The targets of his vitriol are in turn his wife, best friend and girlfriend all of which sits on a bed of class war.
Jimmy is someone who talks rather than acts. And it is his talk that forces those around him to act, albeit belatedly.
Inevitably the play succeeds or fails with Jimmy. He is so central to the play that other characters risk becoming as peripheral to the action as the ironing board that quite literally takes central stage.
Billy Howle’s performance is excellent although at times I feel he is trying to hard to be a young man in the 50s rather than a young man per se. He holds the stage sufficiently for you to sense why people fall in love with him without ever getting a sense that he is ever going to achieve anything – certainly not a satisfying relationship.
The supporting characters compliment Howle.
Iwan Davies is excellent as his best friend Cliff. We get a clear sense that he has heard Jimmy’s tirades before and accepts this as part of his lot, although you sense he has long since given up listening. The sexual tension between him and Jimmy seems as real as that with Jimmy’s wife Alison. This is a frustrated ménage a trois.
The main problem with the play though is its misogyny as recognised by Matthew Franks in the programme. Quite simply Jimmy is a sexist pig who really rather hates women, apart from the dying mother of an old friend who takes on a maternal role for him. As such the play is as much about abuse of women as it is the class system. The way that the two female characters swap roles to bed Jimmy might seem unrealistic to a modern audience but remind of a friend of mine in the eighties who never seemed to have a problem securing fresh girlfriends who were convinced that could change him. Sadly, such abuse of women is not something that died with the 50s.
Indeed, the simplicity with which the women in Jimmy’s wife are interchanged – more at the ironing board than in bed you sense – indicates both their gender role in the household and you feel Jimmy’s lack of genuine love for women.
This is perhaps where the play continues to resonate. Men sitting around all day complaining about their lot, drinking tea and abusing those foolish enough to love them. Ultimately their anger is as self-destructive as it is damaging. Jimmy is not a happy character. The anger that he feels looking back both at what his lot has been is ultimately as self destructive as it is damaging. This has lasted far better than the class war that seems incredibly dated. With the upcoming reunion of Oasis dominating the headlines perhaps it is appropriate to add the missing ‘Don’t’ from the band’s record to Osborne’s play. Jimmy’s character certainly serves as a testament to the danger of living in anger at the past.
A final word for Ellora Torchia who plays Alison Porter with great nuance. At times she seems pliant, at other times she demonstrates great strength but ultimately like all those who love Jimmy she is a victim.
Look Back in Anger runs at the Almeida Theatre until 23 November 2024. Directed by Atri Banerjee, tickets are available from £12.50 at Calendar | Almeida Theatre.
Main image: Billy Howle and Ellora Torchia. Credit Marc Brenner.
