ABSTRACT
Mean Tears was developed at the National Theatre Studio and produced under Peter Gill's direction at the National Theatre in 1987. Set in contemporary London, the play is both a depiction of a man's addiction to an unworthy love object and a dark satire of a group of people incapable of real human commitment or even loyalty. The play is as emotionally naked as anything John Osborne ever wrote and less mean-spirited. Gill's script has few stage directions because he directed it himself. The play was written to be performed on a bare, raked stage: no doors, no walls, no furniture, and only a few necessary props. It also places the focus where it belongs—on Gill's brilliant, whirling language. Mean Tears was first performed at the Cottesloe Theatre of the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain on 22 July 1987. The production was directed by the playwright and designed by Alison Chitty.
