Epitaph for George Dillon

Epitaph for George Dillon is an early John Osborne play, one of two he wrote in collaboration with Anthony Creighton (the other is Personal Enemy). It was written before Look Back in Anger, the play which made Osborne’s career, but opened a year after in Oxford in 1957 and moved to London’s Royal Court theatre, where Look Back in Anger had debuted on May 8, 1956. It moved to New York shortly afterwards and garnered three Tony Award nominations.

The play tells the story of Kate Elliot’s unhappy suburban South London family and the domestic havoc wrought when she decides to adopt George Dillon as a surrogate son.

It tackles typical Osborne themes, including religion (and Osborne’s hatred thereof), vegetarianism, the casual deception of everyday life and scorn of the theatre. In common with Jimmy Porter in Look Back in Anger, George Dillon is an intelligent man unable find his place in the world.

A successful West End revival of the play ran at the Comedy Theatre from 27 September 2005 until 14 January 14 2006, directed by Peter Gill and starring Joseph Fiennes, Francesca Annis and Anne Reid.

It also featured Geoffrey Hutchings, Zoë Tapper, Dorothy Atkinson, Stephen Greif, Hugh Simon and Alex Dunbar.