In 1950s England, a growing group of anti-establishment playwrights prowled the somewhat staid theatrical scene. Led by John Osborne, whose notorious play "Look Back In Anger" (1956) encapsulated many of the group's preoccupations, these writers were collectively dismissed as 'Angry Young... [more]

In 1950s England, a growing group of anti-establishment playwrights prowled the somewhat staid theatrical scene. Led by John Osborne, whose notorious play "Look Back In Anger" (1956) encapsulated many of the group's preoccupations, these writers were collectively dismissed as 'Angry Young Men.' The theatrical movement they spearheaded was hell-bent on bluntly, even brutally, addressing the acute social problems left behind by a dissolving British Empire and crumbling social caste system. The Angry Young Men's forceful style effectively hacked English theater off from its traditional roots. Before them, no playwright had acknowledged, let alone explored, the realities of British class structure. As a group, the Angry Young Men employed traditional dramatic forms as a backdrop to hard-hitting social realism; their engaging plots provide a platform for biting dialogue and excoriating tirades against social injustice. The groundbreaking plays that established this new generation as a force to reckoned with in English theater include Brendan Behan's "The Hostage" (1958), Shelagh Delaney's "A Taste of Honey" (1958), Arthur Wesker's "Roots" (1959), and the early work of a brilliant new talent, Harold Pinter ("The Dumbwaiter" and "The Birthday Party" [both 1958]). During the 70s and early 80s, the almost extinct flames of the Angry Young Men's outraged social consciousness were fanned back into a blaze by Peter Schaffer, one of England's most popular playwrights. With dramas like "Equus" (1973) and "Amadeus" (1980), which blend realistic characters and classically causal plots with punctuations of high theatrics, Schaffer dove back into the murky waters surrounding the English establishment's social and moral inequities. [show less]