Why direct LBiA?

I'd never read the play before the summer, when Abi expressed her love for it as a text. I dutifully bought myself a copy, and read it in almost one train ride to London. I thought it was fantastic - the wealth of words, the action, and simplicity of living, the reality of people. This was a play about life, without being cheesy. It was gritty, set at a difficult time, but easily transferable to current day. And it appeared straightforward - extensive stage directions mean the scene is set in your  minds-eye whether or not you see it translated on stage.

Director Richard Baron spoke of this in an interview with Alison Reeves, Educational Officer of the Royal Lyceum Theatre in 2005. Baron stated that "It’s a three act piece with good curtain lines and full of pregnant moments. It will be about relishing the theatricality of it as well as the exuberance of it"1, expressing the way in which the play is theatrical within itself, not requiring much additional direction.

This theatricality comes out in the way in which the production "replac[es] stage-sets of Belgravia mansions with a drab Midlands flat, and smart upper-class remarks with the angry anti-establishment rants of its hero, Jimmy Porter."2  (Lawson 2006). By harnessing the historical importance of the play's creation, regardless of the current age or manner in which it is being produced, a director can remind the audience of the importance of Jimmy's words, the anger and frustration within him, and the lack of compassion from society at large.

The importance of the setting of LBiA is being taken up by Abi for her project - focusing on her response to the space, and the way in which she is interpreting it. Through her research into the origins of the word 'anger', she found that it derived from the Norse word for 'narrow', and thus began creating a narrow stage set. Katie Mitchell wrote that "Building a complete picture of the place or places in which the action of the play occurs helps the actor enter and believe in the world in which their character exists."3 (2008, p.20), and in our case also allows the actors to feel physically a sense of confinement and frustration within close proximity to one another.

There is a lot involved in directing a play, especially one as complex and psychological as Look Back in Anger. However, Abi and I work well together - she being the very creative one, myself being more academic in my approach - and so compliment one another. I know that in a few weeks' time I will lead a workshop and she will take notes, so we make sure we're trying out each other's strengths and building on our weaknesses. It's going to be a good learning experience, and hopefully a successful production.






(1) Lyceum Education Department (2005) Look Back in Anger: Resource Pack, Edinburgh: Royal Lyceum Theatre Company [Available at: http://site.iugaza.edu.ps/ahallaq/files/2011/03/Look-Back-in-Anger-Resource-Pack.pdf]

(2) Lawson, M. (2006) 'Fifty Years of Anger', The Guardian, 31 March, [online] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2006/mar/31/theatre2 (accessed: 4 March 2013)

(3) Mitchell, K. (2008) The Director's Craft: A Handbook for the Theatre, Routledge