John Osborne

Jimmy Porter barely ekes out a living running a candy stall by day and playing jazz trumpet by night. Although he usually takes his frustrations out on his emotionless wife, Jimmy's scathing tongue and self-loathing seems destined to destroy everything. Set in the UK at the dawn of the 60's social unrest, this savage morality tale spawned the phrase “angry young man.” This recording also includes an interview with Dan Rebellato, author of "1956...

Jimmy Porter is a university graduate who rejects middle class dreams and operates a candy stall in a local flea market. His wife, Alison, endures his anger and frustration because of his intense love. But when an actress friend of Alison's temporarily moves in with them, Jimmy becomes a twisted figure of bitterness and pain as disillusionment and anger overtake him.

Set in a boarding house in a large English coastal resort and a seedy third rate music-hall, Archie Rice is a troubled performer, and the head of a dysfunctional family. He performs twice nightly in a revue that relies heavily upon its nude tableaus to bring in business. Set against the backdrop of the Suez Crisis, the decline of the music hall becomes a metaphor for the decline of Britain as a world power. Osborne alternates fraught and drink-fuelled...

Selected dramatic works reveal the modern playwright's concern about human nature, oppression, and weakness.

This is an early John Osborne play, one of two plays that he wrote in collaboration with Anthony Creighton. In this play, George Dillon is a dedicated but jobless actor, an ambitious and serious playwright. But as the months go by and no parts are offered, his manuscripts returned, his life becomes a nightmare of anonymity, petty debt, and enforced idleness. When he goes to live with the Elliot family, the nightmare changes but does not lift. Eventually,...

Fierce, funny, and cathartic, John Osborne's classic 'kitchen sink' drama as directed by Academy Award winner Judi Dench is a masterpiece of ensemble acting.