Look Back in Anger Look Back in Anger Look Back in Anger (1956) is a realist play written by John Osborne. It focuses on the life and marital struggles of an intelligent and educated but disaffected young man of working class origin, Jimmy Porter, and his equally competent yet impassive upper-middle-class wife Alison. The supporting characters include Cliff Lewis, an amiable Welsh lodger who attempts to keep the peace, and Helena Charles, Alison's snobbish friend. Osborne drew inspiration from his personal life and failing marriage with Pamela Lane while writing "Look Back in Anger", which was his first successful outing as a playwright. The
John Osborne details some of the brazen subterfuges he created in order to commit adultery with Gilliatt before they were married, which included inventing a film festival in Folkestone so they could go away together. Osborne proposed marriage by asking Gilliatt: "Will you marry me? It's risky, but you'd get fucked regularly." Osborne and Gilliatt were married for five years (together for seven), and became the parents of his only natural daughter, Nolan. Osborne had an abusive relationship with his daughter: he cast her out of his house when she was 17; they never spoke again. Osborne and Gilliatt's marriage suffered through