The Young British Drama

Abstract

IT IS SAID that some 120 dramatists are active in Britain today. Of these not more than thirty are likely to see one of their plays performed in the West End of London in anyone theatrical season of twelve months. Fifteen of these at the most can expect to earn as much as £500 a year. If you bear in mind that the dramatic author has to wait for months if not for years before a play of his reaches the stage-John Osborne's Look Back in Anger was rejected by every London theater director before it was finally accepted for production after two years of waiting by the Royal Court Theatre-you will see why so few English writers are attracted to the stage. Note, by contrast, that well over 4,000 novels were published in England last year!