Oh, To Be In England
by David Pinner
by David Pinner
Oh, To Be In England is a dark comedy that explores the unraveling of a middle-aged Englishman’s life as he confronts political and personal extremism in a society grappling with its former imperial identity and economic decline.
About The Play
About The Play
Part of RediscoveriesUK – A three month season of rediscovered plays by writers from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Like Pinner’s contemporaneous 1973 Stalin play The Teddy Bears’ Picnic, Oh, To Be In England was unproduceable at the time of its writing because of its unapologetic skewering of political extremism in the UK. Unlike The Teddy Bears’ Picnic, which finally ran in 1990 to press acclaim, Oh, To Be In England has remained lost. After thirty-five years, it is now receiving its world premiere after thirty five years.
Frighteningly prescient, and tragically current, Oh, To Be In England is a dark comedy examining what it means to live in an ex-empire in economic free-fall, and the political and personal extremism that results when all other belief is lost. A middle-aged Englishman, bred to believe in his innate superiority as a birthright of class, race, and gender, loses his job in the City. Left floundering impotently in a world that is no longer cricket, his family, security, and sanity follow close behind.