Look Back in Anger

2006-07-02T16:41:00.000-07:00

Look Back in Anger

Silo Theatre, Lower Greys Avenue, Auckland CBD
Until 12 August 2006
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www.ticketmaster.co.nz or phone (09) 970 9700

Classic stage rage blazes on
NZ Herald - Paul Simei-Barton

"The decision to do without English accents succeeds. It lends authenticity to the emotions and generates a contemporary feel, well-supported by an edgy soundtrack.

Look Back in Anger is not an easy play but it is deeply rewarding. The blazing vitality of the work remains undimmed, and unlike many of the works it has influenced, the play ends with a gesture that is full of hope."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=18&objectid=10393696

Look Back in Anger
Salient - Jules van Cruysen

"Look Back in Anger relies almost entirely on the cast. Aaron Alexander plays Jimmy, a charismatic, cruel and almost disgusting character who needlessly and malevolently attacks his wife and best friend throughout the play. He is the archetypal ‘angry young man’. He is a beautifully flawed character, one for whom the audience sympathizes with and understands. He is intelligent and sharp but is engaged in a constant battle to undermine himself. Alexander’s portrayal of Jimmy is excellent, and like the rest of the cast his performance is both well devised and well executed. "

"The script of Look Back in Anger is a gem of modern theatre. The characters are real people who are filled with contradiction. Profoundly, all of the characters are both extremely weak and extremely strong. The dialogue is realistic in that I could almost see those characters duking it out in real life. Look Back in Anger is an intense play but the use of two short intervals (both after about forty minutes and both barely enough to go to the loo, buy a drink, or smoke a cigarette – let alone all three) was refreshing and a brilliant way for the audience to maintain momentum."
http://www.salient.org.nz/arts/theatre/look-back-in-anger/

Carry on Ironing
The Listener - Harry Ricketts

"Louis Sutherland is extremely engaging as Cliff, Jimmy’s devoted sidekick. He gets every scrap of comedy and pathos out of Cliff’s diversionary tactics when Jimmy is laying into Alison. Mia Blake (Alison) and Lucy Wigmore (her friend and temporary supplanter Helena) also give strong performances. As the play opens, Blake stands ironing, her back to the newspaper-reading lads, the image of passive aggression. By the end, she has shown us a character full of conflicting feelings. Wigmore’s feisty Helena, too, is no mere replacement target for Jimmy’s jibesLouis Sutherland is extremely engaging as Cliff, Jimmy’s devoted sidekick. He gets every scrap of comedy and pathos out of Cliff’s diversionary tactics when Jimmy is laying into Alison. Mia Blake (Alison) and Lucy Wigmore (her friend and temporary supplanter Helena) also give strong performances. As the play opens, Blake stands ironing, her back to the newspaper-reading lads, the image of passive aggression. By the end, she has shown us a character full of conflicting feelings. Wigmore’s feisty Helena, too, is no mere replacement target for Jimmy’s jibes."

http://www.thelistener.co.nz/issue/3454/artsbooks/6604/carry_on_ironing.html

Compelling chemistry
Capital Times - John Smythe

"The great strength of this production is the realness of its feel; of the feelings felt by each character every step of the way.

If you've never seen it, don't miss this opportunity."

http://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/review.php?id=273

Director notes from Miranda Harcourt:

Helena: I have discovered what is wrong with Jimmy. He was born out of his time.
Alison: I know.
Helena: It is as though he still thinks he is in the middle of the French Revolution.

This exchange between Alison and Helena struck me the first time I read John Osborne’s searing examination of domestic relationships. But perhaps Jimmy was not born too late as Helena posits. Perhaps Jimmy was born too early.

Helena: …there’s no place for people like that, in sex or politics or anything… he doesn’t know where he is or where he’s going. He’ll never do anything and he’ll never amount to anything.

The relationships, the psychology and the sexual politics in Look Back in Anger seem so startlingly contemporary that it’s impossible to respond to these characters as a period piece. These people are us, living in flats in Newtown or Grafton in 2006. Alison’s passive aggression, Helena’s misguided determination, Cliff’s confusion and Jimmy’s nihilistic passion are as recognisable to us now as they were revolutionary to the original audience in 1956.

Jimmy: …I’ve an idea. Why don’t we have a little game? Let’s pretend we’re human beings, and that we’re actually alive. Just for a while. What do you say? Let’s pretend we’re human.

In this production we have played with anachronism, the interplay between being true to the period and being true to the voices of the characters.

The environment you will see onstage here – the food, the pay, the clothes, the jobs, the domestic chores… these remain true to the British Midlands in 1956. But we have brought some contemporary elements to our version of Osborne’s story. You will hear no assumed British accents. We have striven to find an authentic voice, using natural NZ accents to serve the intricate subtleties of this universal drama.

Words are loaded pistols.
Jean-Paul Sartre (b: 1905 d: 1980)

Thank you to our generous sponsors Cool Britannia and Williams and Adams. Thank you to our supporters, not least the cast and crew themselves.

It is great to be playing out this intimate battle at Wellington's BATS Theatre and Auckland's Silo Theatre, which are - like London’s Royal Court under George Devine in 1956- New Zealand’s hothouses for emerging talent and for established practitioners to experiment and push the boundaries of their work.

Look Back In Anger

Look Back in Anger