Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Desert Island Discs
Presented by Roy Plomley
Playwright and actor, best known for his play 'The Entertainer'.
Eight records
I've Grown Accustomed to Her FaceFavourite
Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison
this one I would save from the waves
The keepsakes
The luxury
In conversation
Presenter asks
How early in life did you become fascinated by the theatre?
Well, when I was very young, um my father used to take me regularly to the music hall on a Saturday night and uh my mother used to take me to um musical shows a a great deal.
Presenter asks
Was 'Look Back in Anger' written in anger — with the same feeling of frustration that your principal character had?
But I think it's impossible to write anything uh without a certain degree of objectivity and make it um you know sort of makes any sense. I think these sort of questions usually imply a lack of regard for form, which is um pretty common … an ailment these days, I think. But it wasn't, as so many people have have said in print, it wasn't a in any sense an autobiographical play. No, not a bit. I mean um it's so easy to over personalize these things.
Presenter asks
Did you write the part [in 'Look Back in Anger'] with the intention of playing it yourself?
Never.
The recording
Timestamps play the recording from that turn
Presenter
This download is the only extract the BBC has of this edition of Desert Island Discs. The presenter was Roy Plumley.
Presenter
I come from London.
Presenter
How early in life did you become fascinated by the theatre?
Presenter
Well, when I was very young, um my father used to take me regularly to the music hall on a Saturday night and uh my mother used to take me to um musical shows a a great deal.
Presenter
So it started very early. Yes. You decided while you were still at school that you were in the middle of the day.
John Osborne
Oh yes indeed, yes.
Presenter
Di when you left school, did you go straight into the theatre?
Presenter
No, I took a job as a journalist on a on a trade journal.
Presenter
I did that for about um twelve months. And I used to um write editorials about technical subjects I didn't know about. And uh um I got very bored and
Presenter
didn't like what I was doing at all.
Presenter
So I took a job, uh a sort of back door into a very difficult profession to get into. My first job was teaching a bunch of children in a tour of a play called No Room at the Inn. Oh yes. Teaching them the three R's. Yes. Uh I used to do this in the mornings and act as assistant stage manager in the evenings. And this lasted for several weeks until in one time
Presenter
The local education officer told me that they didn't teach children like that anymore and uh that was the end of my job.
John Osborne
Good.
Presenter
But they kept me on in the company as
Presenter
They I was promoted to stage manager and then I w went on to playing parts and um no, that was the beginning. What happened when the tour of No Room at the Inn came off the road?
Presenter
Well, um
Presenter
fairly sort of conventional um young actors uh life. I went to a series of
Presenter
reps and tours and I did one night stands and I even had a period as an actor manager. Did you well? Uh well, I did um
Presenter
A series of one night stands in a beat up old lorry and then I had a company at um Hailing Island and another one at Ilfracum.
Presenter
Uh lost a great deal of money. Oh dear. When did you write your first play?
Presenter
Um I was about eighteen, just eighteen, yes. You were already in the theatre then? I started just before I went into the theatre and finished it on when I was in the dressing room in the evenings. Was it produced? Yes, it was produced at Huddersfield.
Presenter
How many plays did you write before you you achieved your big success with Look Back in Anger?
Presenter
Uh four or five. Produced again? Uh well, two, including the first one.
Presenter
Had Look Back in Anger been turned down by men in managements before it was accepted but at the Royal Court? Nearly all of them, I should say.
John Osborne
Okay.
Presenter
And um and
Presenter
All the leading agents were as well.
Presenter
Was that play written in anger? I mean, did you write it with some of the same feeling of frustration that your principal character had?
Presenter
But I think it's impossible to write anything uh without a certain degree of objectivity and make it um you know sort of makes any sense. I think these sort of questions usually imply a lack of regard for form, which is um pretty common.
Presenter
an ailment these days, I think. But it wasn't, as so many people have have said in print, it wasn't a in any sense an autobiographical play. No, not a bit. I mean um it's so easy to over personalize these things.
John Osborne
Exactly.
John Osborne
No.
Presenter
Did you write it with the intention of playing the part yourself? Never.
Presenter
Well, Look Back in Anger was was a great success. The next play was The Entertainer, which Sir Laurence Olivier played. Did did did he commission that play? No. I saw him one day with Arthur Miller.
Presenter
And he said to me, as I thought jokingly, he said, Dumb, are you working? and I said, Yes.
Presenter
He said, Is there a path in it for me? And I didn't think he meant it seriously. And then
Presenter
When I was nearly finishing the play, George Devine rang me up one day and said
Presenter
Larry wants to know whether whether he can see the play and I sent it along to him and um
Presenter
He wanted to do it immediately.
Presenter
And you had another success. Well, both these plays have been pretty well all over the world, haven't they? They were both very successful in the United States. Oh, yes, um, particularly in Europe. Um I suppose they've been translated into just about every European language there is, um, in in front of and behind the Iron Curtain.
Presenter
In places that I didn't even know how the theatre.
Presenter
Mr Osborne, what are you up to at the moment? What's on the stocks? Well, I'm uh casting.
Presenter
Um a musical that which I've written a book and lyrics. It's called The World of Paul Slicky. The music is by a young man called Christopher Whelan. The settings are b by Hugh Cassen and the choreography is by Kenneth Macmillan. Mm-hmm. It's um about a newspaper columnist.
Presenter
Uh called Paul Slicky and um I hope it's very funny.
Presenter
When are you hoping to get going with it? In March.
Presenter
You've also been producing the film version of Look Back in Anger? Yes, that was finished um several weeks ago. It's now being cut. Mm-hmm.
Presenter
There's no acting uh among your plans. Does that worry you?
Presenter
Uh well it worries me but to the extent that uh life is a little less cheerful when I'm not acting. Uh
Presenter
I have no illusions about myself as an actor, but I find it a great relaxation and when one is an actor you have a sense of being one of a group and you're not on your own as you are when you just sit at a desk and write all day.
Presenter
A more general question. What do you think are are the prospects for the future of the theatre? We know the West End's all right, there'll always be a theatre there, but what about the provinces and suburbs where theatres have been closing down?
Presenter
Well, I don't think the situation will get any worse than it has already. Um I mean, there are probably almost as many reps as there ever were. And as for the touring theatres, I I would have said that television once again has done uh quite a service in
Presenter
probably inducing people to see plays who who never would have gone to a theatre before. They've got it probably has gotten used to seeing plays.
John Osborne
They've got
Presenter
So you think the prospects are helpful? I think it's quite cheerful, yeah.
John Osborne
Cool.
Presenter asks
Did Sir Laurence Olivier commission the play 'The Entertainer'?
No. I saw him one day with Arthur Miller. And he said to me, as I thought jokingly, he said, 'Dumb, are you working?' and I said, 'Yes.' He said, 'Is there a part in it for me?' And I didn't think he meant it seriously. And then … when I was nearly finishing the play, George Devine rang me up one day and said 'Larry wants to know whether whether he can see the play' and I sent it along to him and um he wanted to do it immediately.
Presenter asks
There's no acting among your plans. Does that worry you?
Uh well it worries me but to the extent that uh life is a little less cheerful when I'm not acting. Uh … I have no illusions about myself as an actor, but I find it a great relaxation and when one is an actor you have a sense of being one of a group and you're not on your own as you are when you just sit at a desk and write all day.
Presenter asks
What do you think are the prospects for the future of the theatre — the provinces and suburbs where theatres have been closing down?
Well, I don't think the situation will get any worse than it has already. Um I mean, there are probably almost as many reps as there ever were. And as for the touring theatres, I I would have said that television once again has done uh quite a service in … probably inducing people to see plays who who never would have gone to a theatre before. [They've] gotten used to seeing plays.
“But I think it's impossible to write anything uh without a certain degree of objectivity and make it um you know sort of makes any sense.”
“It wasn't, as so many people have have said in print, it wasn't a in any sense an autobiographical play. No, not a bit. I mean um it's so easy to over personalize these things.”
“I have no illusions about myself as an actor, but I find it a great relaxation and when one is an actor you have a sense of being one of a group and you're not on your own as you are when you just sit at a desk and write all day.”