Editing John Osborne (section)

=== ''The Entertainer'' and into the 1960s ===
[[File:John Osborne by Reginald Gray.jpg|thumb|180px|right|Osborne by Irish artist [[Reginald Gray (artist)|Reginald Gray]], London (1957)]]
When he first saw ''Look Back in Anger'', [[Laurence Olivier]] had a poor opinion of the play.<ref name="It's me, isn't it?">{{cite news| url=http://arts.guardian.co.uk/theatre/comedy/story/0,,2027355,00.html | work=The Guardian | title='It's me, isn't it?' | first=John | last=Heilpern | author-link= John Heilpern | date=6 March 2007 | access-date=28 April 2023}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Richardson|1993|pp=84-85}}.</ref> At the time, Olivier was making a film of Rattigan's ''[[The Prince and the Showgirl]]'' co-starring [[Marilyn Monroe]], and she was accompanied to London by her husband [[Arthur Miller]]. Olivier asked the American dramatist what plays he might want to see in London. Based on its title, Miller suggested Osborne's work; Olivier tried to dissuade him, but the playwright was insistent and the two of them saw it together.<ref name="It's me, isn't it?" />

Miller found the play revelatory, and they went backstage to meet Osborne. Olivier was impressed by the American's reaction and asked Osborne for a part in his next play. [[George Devine]], artistic director of the Royal Court, sent Olivier the incomplete script of ''[[The Entertainer (play)|The Entertainer]].'' Olivier eventually took the central role as failing [[music hall|music-hall]] performer Archie Rice, playing successfully both at the Royal Court and in the West End.<ref name="It's me, isn't it?" />

''The Entertainer'' uses the metaphor of the dying music hall tradition and its eclipse by early [[rock and roll]] to comment on the declining influence of the [[British Empire]] and its eclipse by the increasing influence of the [[United States]], as illustrated during the [[Suez Crisis]] of November 1956 which forms the backdrop to the play. ''The Entertainer'' found critical acclaim.<ref name=":2">{{harvnb|Richardson|1993|p=88}}.</ref>

Osborne followed ''The Entertainer'' with ''[[The World of Paul Slickey]]'' (1959), a musical that satirizes the tabloid press;<ref>{{cite web |title=John Osborne: New biography records the day the Look Back in Anger playwright was chased by an angry mob |author=Peter Whitebrook |work=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/john-osborne-new-biography-records-the-day-the-look-back-in-anger-playwright-was-chased-by-an-angry-mob-a6749141.html |date=25 November 2015 |access-date=3 April 2023}}</ref> the televised documentary play ''A Subject of Scandal and Concern'' (1960);<ref>{{harvnb|Richardson|1993|p=211}}.</ref><ref name="wake">{{cite web |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/452881/ |title=Osborne, John (1929-1994) |first=Oliver|last=Wake |work=[[Screenonline]] |access-date=19 April 2023}}</ref> and the double bill ''Plays for England'', comprising ''[[The Blood of the Bambergs]]'' and ''[[Under Plain Cover]]'' (1962).<ref>{{harvnb|Wardle|1978|p=242}}.</ref>

''[[Luther (play)|Luther]]'', depicting the life of [[Martin Luther]], was first performed in 1961; it transferred to Broadway and won Osborne a [[Tony Award]].<ref name="billington">{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/dec/24/john-osborne-a-natural-dissenter-who-changed-the-face-of-british-theatre | work=The Guardian | title=John Osborne: a natural dissenter who changed the face of British theatre | first=Michael | last=Billington | date=24 December 2014 | access-date=3 April 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1994/12/27/vitriolic-british-playwright-john-osborne-dies/b108df97-146f-413a-9d1a-fe3c36291944/ | newspaper=Washington Post | title=Vitriolic British Playwright John Osborne Dies | date=27 December 1994 | access-date=15 April 2023}}</ref> ''[[Inadmissible Evidence]]'' was first performed in 1964.<ref name="billington" /> In between these plays, Osborne won an [[Academy Awards|Oscar]] for his 1963 screenplay adaptation of ''[[Tom Jones (1963 film)|Tom Jones]]''.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web|url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1964|title=The 36th Academy Awards {{!}} 1964|website=www.oscars.org|date=5 October 2014 |language=en|access-date=2023-05-02}}</ref> His 1965 play, ''[[A Patriot for Me]]'', draws on the Austrian [[Alfred Redl|Redl]] case, involving themes of [[homosexuality]] and espionage, and helped to end the system of theatrical [[censorship]] under the [[Lord Chamberlain#Theatre censorship|Lord Chamberlain]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shellard |first1=Dominic |last2=Nicholson |first2=Steve |last3=Handley |first3=Miriam |year=2004 |title=The Lord Chamberlain Regrets: A History of British Theatre Censorship |url=https://archive.org/details/lordchamberlainr0000shel |url-access=registration |location=London |publisher=British Library |pages=163–74 |isbn=0-7123-4865-4}}</ref>

Both ''A Patriot For Me'' and ''The Hotel in Amsterdam'' (1968) won [[Evening Standard Awards|''Evening Standard'' Best Play of the Year awards]].<ref>{{harvnb|Whitebrook|2015|pp=243, 274}}.</ref> ''The Hotel in Amsterdam'' features three showbiz couples in a hotel suite, having fled a tyrannical movie producer, referred to as "K.L."<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2003/sep/18/theatre | work=The Guardian | title=Review: The Hotel in Amsterdam | first=Michael | last=Billington | date=18 September 2003 | access-date=28 April 2023}}</ref> Osborne's biographer [[John Heilpern]] asserts that "K.L." was meant to represent director and producer [[Tony Richardson]].<ref>{{harvnb|Heilpern|2006|p=359}}.</ref>