The Observer, February 10, 2006
Volume XXXVIII, Issue 16
Look back in anger
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The era is 1950s England. The class system stratifies people by wealth, and young Jimmy Porter (played by senior Theatre major John DiAntonio) finds himself trapped in a rut by the poor economy in a passionless society: does this sound familiar? Perhaps because it's the exposition of Jack Osbourne's famous play, Look Back in Anger.
Porter is the central character in Look Back in Anger, the third mainstage production at Eldred this season, opening Friday Feb. 10. The play, which expresses frustration with society's calm acceptance of "the way things are," was extremely controversial when it first premiered in 1956 by the English Stage Company. While times have changed a bit, audiences still find themselves moved by the plight of the characters in Osbourne's script, identifying with the feeling of futility. Jimmy Porter's struggle to find a way to change the world he lives in and to create meaningful relationships in the face of such adversity makes him, and the play as a whole, extremely moving and identifiable.
"If you ever in your life have felt dissatisfied or restless or depressed or like you're getting screwed […] by the system or the president or the government or your school or your dean or your department or any of these things, Jimmy Porter knows what you're going through," says DiAntonio. "Come rebel with him."
Look Back in Anger opens at the Eldred Theater at Case Western Reserve University. It is playing Feb. 10, 11, 16, 17, and 18 at 8 p.m. and Feb. 12 and 19 at 2:30 p.m.
