Who wrote the 1957 play 'The Entertainer'?
The Entertainer (play) The Entertainer (play) The Entertainer is a three-act play by John Osborne, first produced in 1957. His first play, "Look Back in Anger", had attracted mixed notices but a great deal of publicity. Having depicted an "angry young man" in the earlier play, Osborne wrote at Laurence Olivier's request about an angry middle-aged man in "The Entertainer". Its main character is Archie Rice, a failing music-hall performer. The first performance was given on 10 April 1957 at the Royal Court Theatre, London. That theatre was known for its commitment to new and nontraditional drama, and the inclusion of a West
The Entertainer (play) Manchester Guardian" was lukewarm, finding the climax of the play "banal" but added, "Sir Laurence brings to the wretched hero a wonderful sniggering pathos now and then and ultimately gives the little figure some tragic size. It is no great play but no bad evening either.""The Times" made no connection between the play and the condition of post-Imperial Britain, regarding it as almost "the sombre, modern equivalent of Pinero's "Trelawny of the Wells"." By the time of the 1974 revival, "The Times" was agreeing with Tynan: "Everyone remembers "The Entertainer" for its brilliant equation between Britain and a dilapidated old