Summary & Review of the play 'Look back in anger', by John Osborne (1957)

The play starts with a description, not only of the scene, but of the characters too.  This description, not meant to be read at the play, is probably intended as a cue for performers and should be omitted from reading otherwise as it entails beforehand judgement of the characters.

SUMMARY

The action takes place in an apartment, which the Porters (Jimmy and Allison) share with their friend, Cliff Lewis.  The three of them share a sharp and witty language, packed with cultured references.  But from the start, it is evident that things aren't going well between the Porters – Jimmy keeps needling Allison on any occasion.  There's a distance between the two of them, Allison calmly looking down on Jimmy, and Jimmy getting enraged and abusing Allison with plenty of expletives, even if sophisticated ones.  It becomes surprising that this ever-quarrelling couple haven't parted ways yet, but there's not an explanation for it – is it because of Cliff, the calming part in the house, or because Jimmy and Allison really like it that way?

Later in the play a reason for resentment is explained – even if well-educated at the University, Jimmy was despised by Allison's high-class family.  Allison's mother strongly opposed to their marriage, and hired detectives to spy on Jimmy and to prepare accusations against him.  But still, Allison remained by Jimmy's side – in spite of which Jimmy keeps paying with her his resentment against her mother's actions.

In the second act a friend, Helena, is visiting.  She learns that Allison has recently noticed she's pregnant, but she hasn't told Jimmy yet because she's afraid of his reaction.  Helena is supportive to her friend and they plan together for Allison to leave her husband and go back to her parents' house.  The plan is very resembling of many similar situations in fiction, the friend helping the woman to escape the ogre, but then it adds an unexpected twist – when Helena breaks the news to Jimmy, she also takes over Allison's place.  Was Helena really helping Allison, or taking advantage of her in order to take over her husband?  Anyway, Allison's departure only fuels even more Jimmy's resentment, providing him with one more thing to complain about.

In the third act Allison and her father show up, Allison having lost her baby.  We see the regret in Allison's father about having let his wife's opposition against the marriage go too far and getting estranged to his son-in-law as a result, before leaving.  Allison confronts Helena and has her leave Jimmy.  When Jimmy shows up, suspecting that something is going on and angry as ever, Helena leaves and Allison is left to confront his anger – and then, the final revelation comes out of her: she takes her miscarriage as a failure, and then confesses she always wanted Jimmy to take her down from her pedestal and now she's finally down, so the distance between them is gone.  And that wins Jimmy back for her.

REVIEW

In the eyes of 2019, the play seems unrealistic.  First, why is Jimmy ever so angry?  Does getting an education at the University and getting married automatically entitle you to a well-paid job and a family-in-law that respects you?  The play comes out in 1956, eleven year after WWII, in which so many British men fought, and so many died - why would a young man that didn't take part in the war feel more entitled that the many men that did?  Second, it is hard to believe not only that Jimmy's affections are transferable from one woman to another, but that the feminine characters are counting on it as a foreseeable fact.

Even if we choose not to notice these inconsistencies, the play is hard to relate to.  Couples having an unhappy, bitter relationship should split up, not to wait for years for a moment of grace to hopefully remove their differences.  The final scene reveals that the entire story is a twice-told tale: the relationship between Jimmy and Allison was all the time a sadomasochistic one, in which the abuse going on between them was wanted by both.  That is hard to believe, as Allison hasn't been characterized as masochistic.  All in all, a well-constructed play, but too peculiar to be relatable to.