Personal Enemy is a play by John Osborne and Anthony Creighton. It was written in 1954, prior to Osborne's 'big break' with Look Back in Anger at the Royal Court Theatre in 1956, and first performed in Harrogate in 1955. It was thought that the play manuscript was lost, but copies were found (along with another early Osborne play, The Devil Inside Him) in the Lord Chamberlain's archive in the British Library in 2008. The two plays were subsequently published as Before Anger, with a foreword by Peter Nichols. Personal Enemy was produced in its uncensored form for the first time in 2010 at the White Bear Theatre, as part of their Lost Classics Project, before transferring to New York's Brits Off Broadway festival at 59E59 Theaters in November of that year. The play is the only work by Osborne to be set in the United States.
Scenario
Set in 1953, in the fictional US town of Langley Springs, Personal Enemy tells us the story of the Constant family. Mrs Constant is the head of the household and inspiration of the town. Her qualities and principles embody the ethos of the community: decency, godliness and pleasantness are paramount. Mr Constant is doing well for himself — the American Dream is becoming a reality for this hard working, decent, suburban man in the insurance racket.
Plot
The play opens on Mrs Constant's birthday. Her daughter, Caryl, her son-in-law, Sam, and her last remaining son, Arnie, are planning a picnic. Tomorrow is the second anniversary of Donald Constant's death. Mrs Constant's eldest son died defending American ideals in the Korean War. A corner of the Constant living room is devoted to enshrining his memory. However, Don was not perhaps as strait-laced as she might have thought. When Caryl discovers a book full of dangerous ideas that Arnie is reading — and the inscription within it from the communist librarian, Ward Perry — she reveals that Don, too, had a friendship with Ward, and that he too had been given a copy of the forbidden book. Caryl launches an attack on her brothers and their high ideas, asserting an image of a world that is structured, logical and controlled and she accuses ‘clever-talk’ of perverting that world into something messy, tangled and interconnected. Her tirade is halted by a telegram informing the Constants that Don is alive. He was a prisoner of war and will be returning to the USA shortly.
A few days later, we rejoin Mrs Constant as she prepares the house for Don's return, which she does with the help of Mrs Slifer, their Polish-born neighbour. Her preparations are soon disturbed by the arrival of the Federal Investigator. This servant of the state informs Mr and Mrs Constant that Don has refused to repatriate, deciding instead to stay in Korea and defect to Communist North Korea. The government, says the Investigator, is very concerned by this and has come to look into what influenced Don to defect. Don's books are of particular interest. The Investigator takes away Don's copy of the book given to both him and Arnie by Ward Perry. When the Investigator has left, and Mr Constant has comforted his wife as much as possible before returning to work, Mrs Constant pins Arnie down into an interrogation of his relationship with Ward Perry, worried about the political and sexual decisions she feels her son is being led into. Arnie passionately and eloquently defends his freedom to socialise with whomever he pleases, and tries to reassure his mother that he is more than capable of making his own decisions about his political beliefs. Shortly after Arnie leaves this conversation, Mrs Constant takes a call that is meant for Arnie. It is Ward Perry. She takes the opportunity to ask him to come round and talk with her. She intends to interrogate him.
In the evening of the same day, Mrs Constant and Caryl are making preparations for the interrogation. Mr Constant has attempted to take charge of the situation, wanting to talk to Ward alone in his study, in order to come to a calm informed solution to the problem of Ward's relationship with Arnie. Mr Constant has therefore refused to have any part in it. Ward Perry arrives and is ruthlessly asked to defend his lifestyle by the Constant women, whilst Sam impotently tries to temper the situation. Ward tries to remain aloof and polite but has his fill and refuses to be interrogated any further. At that very moment Arnie comes home and, seeing Ward leaving, chases after him. When he returns he informs his mother that Ward has said he wants nothing more to do with Arnie. Arnie is devastated and in his emotional tumult confesses to being a ‘Commie and a pervert.' Mrs Constant savagely beats her son repeatedly calling him a 'little beast.'