Author Description

The ten years of British theatre that opened with the 1955 British premiere of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot followed by John Osborne's seminal Look Back in Anger made Britain rival Paris and New York in all that was new and exciting. Theatre, recharged with adrenaline, excitement and aggression, became the crucible in which entertainment, satire, social critique, and experiment vied for their share of the stage. Dance too, under Kenneth Macmillan, sought a new freedom to be modern. Drawing on the Theatre Museum's rich archives, this book celebrates a new generation that reshaped British culture: Harold Pinter, Peter Brook, Peter Hall on the stage, Alan Bennett, Jonathan Miller, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore beyond the fringe, Lonnie Donegan and John Lennon in the clubs and dance-halls. The result is a telling portrait of an age and the dramatic icons that personify it.