Plays Two

Synopsis

The Entertainer, the Hotel in Amsterdam, West of Suez and Time Present (Faber Contemporary Classics)

This second collection of John Osborne's dramatic work includes <i>The Entertainer</i>, <i>The Hotel in Amsterdam</i>, <i>West of Suez</i> and <i>Time Present</i>.

'A lifelong satirist of prigs and puritans, whether of the Right or Left, he took no hostages, expecting from other people the same unyielding, unflinching commitment to their view of the truth which he took for granted in his own.

Of all the British playwrights of the twentieth century he is the one who risked the most.

And risking most, frequently offered the most rewards.' David Hare, <i>Spectator</i>

'Osborne was an instinctive writer, but he had genius in his early years for capturing the national mood and conveying undiluted feeling... one wonders whether any of the bright new talents will have the courage to do what Osborne did in the past: to encapsulate on the tiny stage the state of the nation at large.' <i>Guardian</i>

Praise for <i>The Entertaine</i>r

'The rancid, dead-accurate domestic dialogue is a joy, with clichés dropping like bats from the ceiling... the play becomes a flamboyant coronach for England's lost greatness, enshrining one of the great characters in modern drama.' <i>Daily Telegraph</i>

'Like all Osborne's best work, this is a play about personal failure, individual desolation, the frustration of a community.

One of the reasons why Osborne changed the face of English theatre is that he made passionate personal drama out of a national malaise.' <i>Sunday Times</i>