RESOURCES
Historical Context:
A quick look at the politics, culture, and society that make up OMTG's setting.
April, 1963
Politics & Society
Much of the wedding plot line (and the gender roles played with throughout the show) in OMTG tie nicely into the changing social and political landscape of England in the early 1960s. Of great particular note (and referred to by Shilarna in her director's note) is 1963's Profumo scandal, a series of events that shook up Britain every bit as much as the Watergate or Clinton-Lewinsky scandals did in the United States.
Next is a clip from the BBC documentary, Why I Hate the Sixties. As suggested by the title, the work is a particularly biased (and entertaining) diatribe against pop culture, postmodernism, fashion, the sexual revolution, etc. -- BUT it provides quite a useful picture for where things stood for our characters, the sense of change in the air, the "promise of tomorrow" for the young, and the sense of lost tradition for the old. Most importantly, I think it helps us avoid viewing 60s culture as some museum-piece, trite activity of parents/grandparents, and instead reminds us that it was a time viewed as groundbreaking and revolutionary (both by those who loved it, and those who didn't). Particularly wonderful quotations from the clip include: "The decade that was too good to be true," "sex was invented in 1963," and "the dream of the future extinguishing the memory of the past." Roughly 10 minutes, but VERY worth the time to explore the play's time period through a negatively biased lens. (Warning: brief nudity)
Although not addressed in the clip above (unless we are to assume the gentleman lamenting "hedonism" is including this under the umbrella), changing views on homosexuality--which, in 1963, was still illegal in Britain--were also taking hold. While views varied from region to region, Brighton in particular became known as a hot spot of gay culture, with a number of gay bars (including the famous "Curtain Club," which would go on to see numerous Police Raids until the ban on homosexuality was finally lifted in 1967). That a family would be familiar with a gay man looking to continue pursuing his own life in private while creating a "legal" public facade is particularly fitting for a Brighton setting.
Popular gay Panto entertainer Brian Ralfe, talking about police raids on the Curtain Club in Brighton in the 1960s:
“We had two rooms down there, a boys’ room and a girls’ room – even though there were not that many lesbians in those days.
“We used to watch out for when a police raid was going to happen and then somebody would yell, ‘grab a girl’, and you would grab the nearest woman and start dancing with them.”
Arts & Entertainment
Doctor Who Debuts...
Rapid and broad changes in the arts, fashion, and entertainment were to occur throughout England in the 1960s, and many of these changes began taking hold among teens and trendsetters (if not yet with the general mainstream public) during the era in which this play takes place. A few notable examples, to help you imagine what Francis and the gang might be watching on television ...
THE CHANGEOVER FROM "SKIFFLE" TO ROCK AND ROLL
IMPORTANT: Before (or concurrently as) you dive into this section, be sure to check out this website's sections devoted to the genre, background, and influence of Skiffle. You can find information about this British proto-Rock and Roll (including sound clips) HERE and HERE. I sincerely believe a solid grounding in Skiffle will help all actors better understand the show and the era!
Since it's explosion in popularity in the late 1950s, Skiffle had been on a clear trajectory toward the early rock and roll sounds from America of Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Elvis Presley, and Bill Haley.
Buddy Holly & the Crickets - "That'll Be the Day"
Elvis Presley - "Hound Dog"
Bill Haley & the Comets - "Rip it Up" from Don't Knock the Rock
These new American influences helped bring the Skiffle sound from this:
...to this:
The Vipers Skiffle Group, 10,000 Years Ago
The Beat Boys in 1963, playing "Third Time Lucky." The band changed their name in '60 from "the Dominos," a version of the band with a far more traditionally "rural" skiffle sound.
The early 60s saw an entire generation of young British musicians go from garage skiffle groups to the genre briefly referred to as "Beat music," though eventually included under the larger umbrella of rock and roll. A tiny sampling of famous rock artists who were part of this migration include Mick Jagger and Keith Richards (the Rolling Stones), Jimmy Page (Led Zepplin), Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple, Rainbow, and others), and--perhaps most famously, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison, who--before forming the Beatles--performed with several other musicians as the skiffle band "The Quarrymen." These three videos give some sense of this trajectory:
The Quarrymen skiffle group, featuring John Lennon and Paul McCartney (George Harrison handn't yet joined) performing "Maggie Mae" (recreation)
The Beatles in '63 with "From Me to You." Although it was their third single, it was their first unqualified hit in England (staying at number 1 for weeks!), and the first Beatles song to chart (116 on Billboard) in the United States. This song inarguably marks a turning point in their career.
Compare the "From Me to You" performance to this madness only a few months later, as the Beatles brought "She Loves You" to a screaming nation of teenage fans. At the beginning of 1963, few knew who the Beatles were--by year's end, they were among the most famous people in Britain.
BRIGHTON
And then there's the race course, each jockey frequents,
Where the beaux lose their money as well as their sense;
Where gaiety joined with equality cheers,
Dukes jostle with dustmen—pickpockets with peers;
Oh! these are the pleasures of Brighton!
Samuel Beazley, Jr. The Boarding House; or, Five Hours at Brighton
"Brighton is most often thought of as the resort of kings; a reputation which owes a great deal to the Prince of Wales, later George IV and his unique Pavilion. But there has always been a seedy side to the city, and criminality and vice are also part of its history; (...a history full of) murders, rapes, thefts, racketeering, scandals, drug-dealing, embezzlement and vice."
Douglas d'Enno, Brighton Crime and Vice, 1800-2000
"Ah, dear Brighton—piers, queers and racketeers."
attributed to Noel Coward
"... there in the dip of the Downs, past the spires of Patcham and of Preston, lay the broad blue sea and the grey houses of Brighton, with the strange Eastern domes and minarets of the Prince's Pavilion shooting out from the centre of it. To every traveller it was a sight of beauty, but to me it was the world—the great wide free world—and my heart thrilled and fluttered as the young bird's may..."
Arthur Conan Doyle, Rodney Stone
Brighton:
Part day trip wonderland of escapism & delight--
Part wretched hive of scum and villainy.