Look Back in Anger

Look Back in Anger is a realist play that, like other works of Realism, seeks to depict society in a lifelike and naturalistic manner, without turning away from difficult social issues. In this play, Osborne eschews the stylized formality associated with earlier Edwardian theater and instead portrays characters who speak in an everyday manner and have ordinary concerns. More specifically, the play is regarded as a major work of “kitchen sink realism,” a style of social realism that developed in Britain in the 1950s and '60s and that tended to focus on working-class Britons, especially disaffected young men. Many of these characteristics of kitchen sink realism are evident in a scene in which Alison irons Cliff’s trousers: 

Alison: You’d better take them off. 

Jimmy: Yes, go on. Take ’em off. And I’ll kick your behind for you. 

Alison: I’ll give them a press while I’ve got the iron on. 

Cliff: OK (starts taking them off) I’ll just empty the pockets. (takes out keys, matches, handkerchief) 

Jimmy: Give me those matches, will you? 

Cliff: Oh, you’re not going to start up that old pipe again, are you? It stinks the place out. (to Alison) Doesn’t it smell awful? 

Jimmy grabs the matches, and lights up. 

Alison: I don’t mind it. I’ve got used to it.

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