Epitaph for George Dillon

Description

John Osborne's domestic and political drama of hope and disillusionment is set in a lower middle class household in South London. The Elliots live their unhappy suburban life until Kate Elliot brings home a surrogate for her son killed in war, the charismatic and bohemian George Dillon. He is an aspiring actor and penniless writer recently freed from the constraints of employment, his fall cushioned by the kindness and generosity of Kate Elliot.

John Osborne was born in London in 1929. Before becoming a playwright he worked as a journalist, assistant stage manager and repertory theatre actor. Seeing an advertisement for new plays in The Stage in 1956, Osborne submitted Look Back in Anger. Not only was the play produced, but it was to become considered as the turning point in post-war British theatre. Osborne's protagonist, Jimmy Porter, captured the rebelliousness of an entire post-war generation of 'angry young men'. His other plays include The Entertainer (1957), Luther (1961), Inadmissable Evidence (1964), and A Patriot for Me (1966). He also wrote two volumes of autobiography. His last play, Dejavu (1991), returns to the characters of Look Back in Anger, over thirty years later. Both Look Back in Anger and The Entertainer were adapted for film, and in 1963 Osborne won an Academy Award for his screenplay for Tom Jones. John Osborne died in 1994.