Review-Look Back in Anger
March 11, 2009
Date Reviewed: 10th March, 2009
Venue: Northern Stage, Newcastle
Initial reactions to the play when performed in 1956 were very mixed: shock, irritation and enthusiasm. John Osborne was delighted, “To become angry is to care”, he stated.
The central character, Jimmy Porter, (ex Coronation Street star Bill Ward) is an educated young man, who feels anger and despair at the world for not giving him a chance.
How anyone feels about life is in part conditioned by expectation. “You’re hurt because everything’s changed”, Alison tells her father, “and Jimmy’s hurt because everything’s stayed the same”. Somewhere between these two statements there lies some truth for all of us. The fact that the modern way of life has been cushioned by commercialism, will have allowed little preparation for the many now caught up in the economic downturn. “Education is never wasted” has been the mantra of successive generations, but if you cannot get a job with, or without it, because there are no jobs, then the futility of the effort to better oneself may give rise to a whole new ‘generational anger’. and it does give this play a resonance, which a year ago, it would not have had.
Jimmy cares, and demonstrates this in a most articulate manner throughout the play. The dynamics of the responsiveness of the other main characters to Jimmy, further fuel his ire: he is not the centre of their world in the way he would like to be, and for the most part, he might as well be shouting into an empty room…. “I’m real. I’m here. So pay attention to me.”
But when his verbal attacks do hit home, they inflict real pain. The muted response from those around him probably echoes the reaction to be found in many a household, where the firebrand is managed by non-confrontation. Whilst watching a character on stage, like Jimmy sounding off, might be entertaining, however, from a female perspective the habitual verbal and emotional battering of his wife, Alison is also a chilling reminder of the inequalities that can and do still exist as the marital lot. We have moved on somewhat in fifty years, though not as much as some of us would like. This aspect of the play, undoubtedly sits more uncomfortably, today, than it would have in 1956.
The audience, on the night, was obviously concentrating very hard as they was so still and silent- though a continuing lack of reaction from an audience through most of a First Act is not usually a good sign.
However, good things do come to those who persevere and later in the First Act there is an added poignancy to the scene between Nia Gwynne, as Alison and fellow lodger, Cliff, as the gentleness of Cliff offers such a contrast to the verbal machinations of Jimmy. And later still, in Act Two, as the women put their heads together, and try to make some sense of life with a Jimmy epicentre, the contrast of the warmth of Alison’s personality when she is with Helen ,with the emotionally straight-jacketed one in Jimmy’s presence, is palpable. In fact, the portrayal of Alison is so rooted in realism that one wonders how she came to make such a partner choice in the first place, let alone return to him, in the final scene. It is a theme that is taken up by Alison’s Father, the Colonel, played by Robert East and is one of life’s imponderables – who of us have not asked themselves the question – Why am I doing this? How did I get here? The question, “why?” is Alison’s nadir: “Why, why, why, why! That word is pulling my head off!” she says, and some of us will know exactly what she means.
Laura Howard, as Helena, is an inspired piece of casting. Is Helena coldly calculating or just afflicted by the same misguided lust for Jimmy as that which has led too the entrapment of her friend, Alison? I’m still not sure. What I am sure of, is that Laura Howard’s stage presence was hugely positive in what is a rather negative play about one man’s demand for a certain sort of freedom, which literally crushes the life out of those who dare to share his breathing space.
The play offers a close up of how not to share your distress with others. If you enjoy the occasional outing away from your comfort zone then this might just be the ticket. If not, why not see it anyway, then when you want to share your distress about it with others, at least you’ll know - how not to do it!
At the Northern Stage until 21st March. National tour until 16th May, includes the Gala Theatre, Durham, 28th April- 2nd May 2009
Christine Coles
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