The play tells the story of Kate Elliot's unhappy suburban South London family and the domestic havoc wrought when she decides to adopt George Dillon as a surrogate son.
It tackles typical Osborne themes, including religion (and Osborne's hatred thereof), vegetarianism, the casual deception of everyday life and scorn of the theatre. In common with Jimmy Porter in Look Back in Anger, George Dillon is an intelligent man unable to find his place in the world.[3]
London
It opened professionally at the Royal Court Theatre on 11 February 1958, in a production by William Gaskill, with the following cast (in order of appearance):[4]
In The Observer, Kenneth Tynan called it "Powerful, honest and transfixing"; while in The Sunday Times, Harold Hobson wrote that the play "absorbs and fascinates because it is that rarest of theatrical phenomena, a realistic modern drama which is not bourgeois in its underlying assumptions. It is like a familiar building caught at an angle which suddenly makes it look like something never seen before."[5]
Broadway
It made its debut on Broadway on 4 November 1958 starring Wendy Craig but was a failure and closed on 22 November 1958 after just 23 performances.[6][7] Another version by new management and separately-financed opened during the same season on 12 January 1959, again starring Craig but was also a commercial failure playing for 48 performances, and closing on 21 February 1959.[8][7] The first version received three Tony Award nominations - Best play; best direction (William Gaskill) and best actor (Robert Stephens).[2]