The Entertainer
Entertainer, The Author: John Osborne
First Performance: 1957, London
Published: 1957
Genre: Drama in 13 scenes; prose and songs
Setting: English seaside resort, 1956
Cast: 5m, 2f
Domestic scenes of the Rice household alternate with Archie Rice's stage act. Archie is a second-rate music-hall comedian and singer, attempting to keep this traditional entertainment alive, despite telling unfunny jokes, singing maudlin songs, and facing the threat of the mass media. He lives in the shadow of his father Billy's success as a music-hall star, is bored with his marriage to the dowdy Phoebe, ten years his senior, and has an uneasy relationship with his son Frank and daughter Jean. His other son Mick is sent to fight at Suez and is killed just before he is expected home. Archie's response is to sing the blues. When Archie...
[The entire page is 342 words long]
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