The Entertainer

Synopsis

A proud past, a shabby present, an uncertain future: the state of the nation in 1956 perhaps, but also the state of the Rice family in a run-down seaside resort, where Archie is fronting a strip-show in a seedy theatre. Ever the entertainer, he carries on joking, dancing, singing - increasingly dead behind the eyes. This is a modern classic: it is a play about the state of the nation, but it is also a play which is vaudeville: funny, sleazy, sentimental in turn, after turn, after turn.

Our Review:

8 March 2007

There have been some decent revivals of John Osborne’s second major play, The Entertainer (1957), in recent years – Peter Bowles as Archie Rice at the Shaftesbury, Michael Pennington at Hampstead, Corin Redgrave at the Liverpool Playhouse - but none has rivalled the new production by Sean Holmes at the Old Vic, with Robert Lindsay tearing up the stage in the leading role.

Fifty years on, this play is celebrated for all sorts of reasons: it marked Laurence Olivier’s coming of age as a great modern actor when he appeared as Archie at the Royal Court; it caught a moment in history of Britain in post-War decline after the Suez crisis; and it suggested cultural sea change in the death of the music hall.

Above all, it encapsulated Osborne’s major theme, one of uncompromising opposition towards anything sham or untruthful, however painful the revelation. I had forgotten, for instance, just how powerful is the opening scene, almost an uninterrup...

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Latest User Review

Bal - 23 May 2007:

Disappointed....

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