Not so young but just as angry

Jimmy (Aaron Alexander) directs much of his rage at his long-suffering wife, Allison (Mia Blake).

In the late 1990s, two New Zealanders on opposite sides of the world saw productions of John Osborne's Look Back in Anger.

A production at the Court Theatre in Christchurch inspired disillusioned university student Aaron Alexander to start professional theatre training; a London show left Lucy Wigmore speechless.

When they found themselves having to create work, they started planning local productions of the play.

Wigmore tried on and off for four years to stage an Auckland production, while Alexander toiled in Wellington, convincing Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School head of acting Miranda Harcourt to direct.

Eventually they heard of one another's plans, joined forces, and with Harcourt in the director's chair are bringing it from Wellington's Bats Theatre to Auckland's Silo for the play's 50th anniversary.

Look Back in Anger was heralded as the beginning of modern naturalistic theatre in Britain.

It exposed the disillusionment of a post-war generation who hoped society would judge and reward them on merit but found Britain remained mired in class politics.

The concept of an "angry young man" was given visceral embodiment through the central character of Jimmy Porter, even more so when Richard Burton played the role in the film version.

Much of the action - more emotional and psychological than physical - takes place in a bed-sit where Jimmy Porter (Alexander), passionate, articulate and educated but trapped in a dead-end job, lives with his wife Alison (Mia Blake) and best friend Cliff Lewis (Louis Sutherland).

Frustrated and bitter, Jimmy taunts his friends about their acceptance of the world around them, directing much of his anger at Alison's friends and family, especially her father, a retired British Army colonel.

When an old school friend of Alison, Helena (Wigmore), visits she is appalled by and attracted to Jimmy. While she convinces Alison to leave, she can't quite do the same.

Alexander, Wigmore and Harcourt are adamant the show is as relevant today as it was when first performed in 1956.

But they acknowledge some questioned the decision to stage Look Back in Anger, viewing it more as a museum piece than a pertinent story with contemporary themes and characters.

"It's not a history lesson," says Harcourt. "It will of course mean something different to a New Zealand audience in 2006 than what it did to Britain in 1956, but I think it's just as shocking.

"Back then, the audience may have been shocked to see an ironing board on stage instead of cushions and French windows; today, I think the way Jimmy treats his wife and her response is the real talking point."

For Harcourt and the cast, the characters' relationships resonate most, so they have emphasised the sexual politics.

The actors were cast partly because they already knew each other - having established relationships to draw on made the onstage action more authentic.

Wigmore and Blake played opposite one another in The Women, but this time Wigmore plays the husband-stealer and Blake the wronged wife.

"We're really good friends," says Wigmore of Blake, "so when the betrayal comes it seems all the more hurtful and real."

Alexander describes Look Back in Anger as a story about the brutality of love, a twisted romance where one character feels powerless in most aspects of his lifeso is determined to control his relationships.

He speculates that if Jimmy Porter had been born just a decade later there may have been more outlets for his rage, perhaps in music or politics.

But the 29-year-old actor wonders whether today's "angry young men" have those same outlets in a society where alternative culture is often branded, marketed and packaged for mass consumption. The question then is not how far society has to go, but how far it has progressed.

"Look Back in Anger is one of the cornerstones of contemporary theatre practice and most modern writing owes it a great debt," says Harcourt.

"If you are going to have a sophisticated theatre culture, you have to offer audiences the chance to see these pieces."

* Look Back in Anger at the Silo Theatre, July 27-Aug 12