The Entertainer
From 6 September 1999
To 11 September 1999
John Osborne
Directors Notes
The 1950's were a time of great change in England, especially in the entertainment business. The once proud Music Halls and Vaudeville have been superseded by films and the arrival of television, sinking to the level of back street peepshows in seedy seaside towns, where the likes of Archie Rice have become mere warm up acts for cheap nudes and strippers.
In Archie, Osborne has given us a man who has become trapped in this situation, a comic of no charm and even less talent, who is a failure both on and off stage and dragging his hapless family down with him. It's just a question of how much further can he go.
Laurence Olivier created this role in London in 1957, and will be remembered for the film version, where he starred with Joan Plowright (soon to become Lady Olivier), who played the frustrated daughter Jean.