Look Back in Anger

What our readers say

What’s it like reading this play now? 

The play is direct and shocking, exposing the attitudes of a specific group of people at this specific time. Racist slurs and violent white supremacism occur throughout, in particular from the man who offers the band a gig. Compared to what we might see on stage today, it is disturbing in its directness

What does it tell us about the past and present?

It really made me think about how race and class are pitted against each other and the post-Brexit narrative that we hear from the current Tory government and national newspapers. On a very basic level, it can feel like “Swarms of migrates, taking jobs” Vs “Disenfranchised white working-class boys”. This feels like a divide-and-rule tactic, which echoes very similar issues that caused the 1981 Moss Side riots. This siloed way of thinking about race and class (or race VS class) runs through the whole of Oi for England – I feel very much resonates with a common narrative today.

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This is England, Death of England, The Specials

What is the social and political context of this play? 

This was the early years of the Thatcher era. The world economy was in recession. The Race Relations Act of 1976 was less than a decade old. In 1981 the so-called ‘Moss Side Riot’ saw a police station attacked by an angry crowd, fuelled by racial tensions and the dispossession of mass unemployment.