Kicking Against the Pricks, A Theatre Producer Looks Back

with a signed postcard from Oscar Lewenstein to set designer Douglas Heap

Author

Oscar Lewenstein

Publisher

Nick Hern Books, London, 1994

Kicking Against the Pricks, A Theatre Producer Looks Back

Printing Details

First edition, first printing. Hardback in dustwrapper. 24 × 16cm, 210pp.

This copy comes with a postcard loosely inserted which has been handwritten from Oscar Lewenstein to set designer Douglas Heap, and reads "24/5/76, My dear Douglas. This is to wish you success tonight, and to say how happy I've been to be working with you again, with all my best wishes, Oscar". Lewenstein and Heap worked together on a production of Joe Orton's Loot in 1975 at the Royal Court, and in 1976 Lewenstein presented Dimetos by Athol Fugard at the Comedy Theatre, again designed by Douglas Heap.

The plays and films produced by Oscar Lewenstein have been major formative experiences for most people over forty and now constitute a vital legacy for younger generations. The British premieres of Brecht's Threepenny Opera and Ionesco's Rhinoceros with Laurence Olivier directed by Orson Welles; A Taste of Honey and The Hostage from Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop; Peter O'Toole in The Long and the Short and the Tall and Albert Finney in Billy Liar and Luther; the first sightings in Britain of the work of Jean Genet and Brian Friel; and the premieres of Joe Orton's Loot and What the Butler Saw—all were Oscar Lewenstein productions, while his films include The Knack and the Oscar-winning Tom Jones.

His autobiography, with its apt Ortonesque title, reveals a thoroughly unorthodox individual. Born into a middle-class Jewish family, he became an ardent Young Communist, which led him to Unity Theatre, which led in turn to the Royal Court. His story throws direct light on one of the least understood jobs in showbiz: the producer. Two examples of his behind-the-scenes influence stand for many more. It was Lewenstein who, as General Manager, suggested the appointment of George Devine to head up the Royal Court, thereby setting in train nothing less than the revolution in the theatre whose first shots were fired in 1956 by Look Back in Anger. And in 1967 it was Lewenstein's driver who discovered Joe Orton beaten to death when he arrived to pick him up for a meeting with Oscar to discuss the screenplay Orton wrote for the Beatles.

Condition

The postcard is in very good condition. The book is a good reading copy, with light edgewear to the wrapper and foxing to the page edges (quite heavy to the top).