Пьеса Джона Осборна “Оглянись во гневе” (1956) была реакцией на салонные комедии и драмы для среднего класса и явилась вехой в истории театра. Оценка этой пьесы как великой не стала всеобщей, но, тем не менее, в ней с молодой энергией и в свойственной молодости манере веско изображено владевшее тогда умами ощущение беспокойства и неудовлетворённости.
После первой постановки “Оглянись во гневе” британский театр обрёл открытость новым веяниям и стал более убедительным и живым, чем за предшествовавшие 250 лет.
(...)
J i m m y. … Have you ever seen her brother? Brother Nigel? The straight-backed, chinless wonder from Sandhurst? I only met him once myself. He asked me to step outside when I told his mother she was evil minded.
C l i f f. And did you?
J i m m y. Certainly not. He’s
a big chap. Well, you’ve never heard so many well-bred commonplaces come from beneath the same bowler hat. The Platitude from Outer Space - that’s brother Nigel. He’ll end up in the Cabinet one day, make no mistake. But somewhere at the back of that mind is the vague knowledge that he and his pals have been plundering and fooling everybody for generations.
[Going upstage, and turning].
Now Nigel is just about as vague as you can get without being actually invisible.
And invisible politicians aren’t much use to anyone - not even to his supporters! And nothing is more vague about Nigel than his knowledge. His knowledge of life and ordinary human beings is so hazy, he really deserves some sort of decoration for it - a medal inscribed ‘For Vaguery in the Field’. But it wouldn’t do for him to be troubled by any stabs of conscience, however vague.
[Moving down again].
Besides, he’s a patriot and an Englishman,
and he doesn’t like the idea that he may have been selling out his countryman all these years, so what does he do? The only thing he can do - seek sanctuary in his own stupidity. The only way to keep things as much like they always have been as possible, is to make any alternative too much for your poor, tiny brain to grasp. It takes some doing nowadays. It really does. But they knew all about character building at Nigel’s school, and he’ll make it all right. Don’t you
worry, he’ll make it. And, what’s more, he’ll do it better than anybody else!
There is no sound, only the plod of Alison’s iron. Her eyes are fixed on what she is doing. Cliff stares at the floor. His cheerfulness has deserted him for the moment. Jimmy is rather shakily triumphant. He cannot allow himself to look at either of them to catch their response to his rhetoric, so he moves across to the window, to recover himself, and look out.
It’s started
to rain. That’s all it needs. This room and the rain. He’s been cheated out of his response, but he’s got to draw blood somehow.
[conversationally] Yes, that’s the little woman’s family. You know Mummy and Daddy, of course. And don’t let the Marquess of Queensberry manner fool you. They’ll kick you in the groin while you’re handing your hat to the maid. As for Nigel and Alison - [In a reverent, Stuart Hibberd voice.]
Nigel and Alison. They’re what they sound like: sycophantic, phlegmatic and pusillanimous.
C l i f f. I’ll bet that concert’s started by now. Shall I put it on?
J i m m y. I looked up that word the other day. It’s one of those words I’ve never been quite sure of, but always thought I knew.
C l i f f. What was that?
J i m m y. I told you - pusillanimous. Do you know what it means? Cliff shakes his head.
Neither
did I really. All this time, I have been married to this woman, this monument to non-attachment, and suddenly I discover that there is actually a word that sums her up. Not just an adjective in the English language to describe her with - it’s her name! Pusillanimous! It sounds like some fleshy Roman matron, doesn’t it? The Lady Pusillanimous seen here with her husband Sextus, on their way to the Games. Cliff looks troubled, and glances uneasily at Alison.
adjective: [‘Еdжiktiv] - имя прилагательное; зависимый, зависящий,
несамостоятельный; подневольный
fleshy: [‘fleшi] - состоящий из мякоти; мягкий, без костей; мясистый, сочный; толстый, полный, тучный; похожий на мясо
matron: [‘meitr(э)n] - матрона, замужняя женщина и мать семейства(обычно являющаяся в обществе эталоном морали и достоинства); экономка; заведующая хозяйством (в организации); надзирательница, смотрительница ------------------------------------ (John James Osborne (1929 - 1994). “Look Back in
Anger”)
До новых встреч!
(При подготовке выпуска было использовано издание Roger Gower. Past into Present. An Anthology of British and American Literature, 1998)
