John Osborne was born in London, England in 1929 to Thomas
Osborne, an advertisement writer, and Nellie Beatrice, a working class barmaid.
His father died in 1941. Osborne used the proceeds from a life insurance
settlement to send himself to Belmont College, a private boarding school.
Osborne was expelled after only a few years for attacking the headmaster. He
received a certificate of completion for his upper school work, but never
attended a college or university.
After returning home, Osborne worked several odd jobs before he
found a niche in the theater. He began working with Anthony Creighton's
provincial touring company where he was a stage hand, actor, and writer.
Osborne co-wrote two plays -- The Devil Inside Him and Personal Enemy -- before
writing and submittingLook Back in Anger for production.
The play, written in a short period of only a few weeks, was
summarily rejected by the agents and production companies to whom Osborne first
submitted the play. It was eventually picked up by George Devine for production
with his failing Royal Court Theater. Both Osborne and the Royal Court Theater
were struggling to survive financially and both saw the production of Look Back
in Anger as a risk. After opening night, the play received mixed reviews. It
did receive a handful of glowing reviews from several influential theater
critics, however, and Osborne was soon pronounced to be one of the most
promising young playwright's in British theater. He brought a new trend in play
writing which is popularly known as “kitchen sink drama” which brought a new
face to the modern era of writing.
