''The World of Paul Slickey'' (1959) is a play by John Osborne. It was Osborne's only musical, intended as a social satire on high-society gossip columnists. After the huge successes of Osborne's previous plays ''

Look Back in Anger ''Look Back in Anger'' (1956) is a realist play written by John Osborne. It focuses on the life and marital struggles of an intelligent and educated but disaffected young man of working-class origin, Jimmy Porter, and his equally competent yet i ...

'' and '' The Entertainer'', the play was to become "one of the most spectacular disasters in English theatre".Heilpern, John, ''John Osborne: A Patriot for Us'', 2007, Random House, pp.249-54.

Creation

The play was based on an earlier unproduced drama called ''An Artificial Comedy, or Love in a Myth'', which had been turned down for production by both

George Devine George Alexander Cassady Devine (20 November 1910 – 20 January 1966) was an English theatrical manager, director, teacher, and actor based in London from the early 1930s until his death. He also worked in TV and film. Early life and education ...

and

Tony Richardson Cecil Antonio "Tony" Richardson (5 June 1928 – 14 November 1991) was an English theatre and film director and producer whose career spanned five decades. In 1964, he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film ''Tom Jones''. Early ...

. Osborne adapted it to become a musical, with deliberately "cartoon characters". The adapted version was produced by

Donald Albery Sir Donald Arthur Rolleston Albery (19 June 1914 – 14 September 1988) was an English theatre impresario who did much to translate the adventurous spirit of London in the 1960s onto the stage. Biography He was born into a theatrical family ...

. Osborne directed. The music for the songs was written by

Christopher Whelen Christopher Whelen (17 April 1927 – 18 September 1993) was an English composer, conductor and playwright, best known for his radio and List of television operas, television operas. Because much of his work was written for specific theatre product ...

, an established composer of incidental music for theatre. The lyrics were by Osborne.

Hugh Casson Sir Hugh Maxwell Casson (23 May 1910 – 15 August 1999) was a British architect. He was also active as an interior designer, as an artist, and as a writer and broadcaster on twentieth-century design. He was the director of architecture for t ...

designed the set.

Kenneth MacMillan Sir Kenneth MacMillan (11 December 192929 October 1992) was a British ballet dancer and choreographer who was artistic director of the Royal Ballet in London between 1970 and 1977, and its principal choreographer from 1977 until his death. E ...

choreographed the dance sequences.MacMillan: Choreographer
/ref> The play's central character, Paul Slickey, was based on gossip columnist William Hickey.

Plot

Journalist Jack Oakham uses the pseudonym Paul Slickey for his gossip column in which he takes swipes at the lifestyles of the rich and famous. He explores the lives of troubled couple Lesley and Michael, rich, young people who propose to solve their marriage problems by both having sex changes. He also follows the hopelessly archaic aristocrats Lord and Lady Mortlake and the Giltedge-Whytes, along with brash young pop star Terry Maroon. As the empty and silly lives of the people he covers start to affect him, Jack finds it increasingly difficult to do his job, and his own marriage suffers.

Production

The play was a critical disaster. On the opening night, the audience booed at the end, and one of the cast,

Adrienne Corri Adrienne Corri (born Adrienne Riccoboni; 13 November 1931 – 13 March 2016) was a Scottish actress. Early life She was born Adrienne Riccoboni in Glasgow in November 1931, the daughter of an English mother (Olive Smethurst) and an Italian f ...

, made V signs at the audience and told them "go fuck yourselves". Among the booing members of the audience were

John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud, (; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Brit ...

and Noël Coward, who later wrote in his diary "never in all my theatrical experience have I seen anything so appalling, appalling from every point of view". As Osborne left the theatre, he was chased by "furious theatregoers" down Charing Cross Road. The play closed after six weeks.

Reception

Critics were overwhelmingly negative. It was described as "the biggest floperoo ever”, an “evening of general embarrassment”, and a “sad day for Osborne”. According to ''The Times'' it exuded "extraordinary dullness", and the ''Evening Standard'' stated that it was "incredibly naive and dull". ''

Dancing Times ''Dancing Times'' is a dancing magazine based in the UK, the oldest dance magazine to be still published. The magazine helped found the Royal Academy of Dance, the Camargo Society, and the British Dance Council The British Dance Council was f ...

'' was positive about some of Kenneth MacMillan's work, calling the sequence ‘On Ice’ "a clever satire on smart women journalists, inspired by those absurd attitudes struck by models on the fashion pages of the glossy weeklies", but it objected to another as “a nightmare ritual taking the form of a rowdy alcoholic rock’n’roll orgy". Writing in 1965, critic George Wellwarth took a different view of the play, writing

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:World Of Paul Slickey 1959 musicals Plays by John Osborne British musicals West End musicals