John Osborne backdrop to the play. An experimental piece, "The Entertainer" was interspersed with music hall performances. Most critics praised the development of an exciting writing talent: The words are Billy Rice's, though as with much of Osborne's work they could be said to represent his own sentiments, as with this quote from "Look Back in Anger": Osborne followed "The Entertainer" with "The World of Paul Slickey" (1959) a musical that satirizes the tabloid press, the unusual television documentary play "A Subject of Scandal and Concern" (1960), and the double bill "Plays for England", comprising "The Blood of the Bambergs" and "Under
John Osborne newly formed English Stage Company at London's Royal Court Theatre. Formed by actor-manager and artistic director George Devine, the company had seen its first three productions flop and urgently needed a success if it was to survive. Devine was prepared to gamble on this play because he saw in it a ferocious and scowling articulation of a new post-war spirit. Osborne was living on a leaky houseboat on the River Thames at the time with Creighton, stewing up nettles from the riverbank to eat. So keen was Devine to contact Osborne that he rowed out to the boat to tell