Tony Richardson characterizes the play as a succès de scandale but not a box-office smash: "In England, Look Back was never a commercial success (another myth that needs dispelling): it didn’t ever sell out at the Court. Some six months later we were going to do a three-week revival at the Lyric, Hammersmith – a theatre less prominent than the Court. I did a TV version of Act 2 that created enough interest to sell out those three weeks. On later revivals we did OK but not sensational business. No West End theatre would accept us, and no commercial management wanted to take us on even as partners. But what the two notices [by Tynan and Hobson] did was something more important: they made us the theatre of the moment, the place where it was happening – take it or leave it, love it or hate it" (Richardson 1993, p. 79). A Better Class of Person reproduces a photo of the Royal Court's front of house, with Look Back in Anger playing and a sign warning "House Full", but Irving Wardle broadly supports Richardson's account: "Amid all the noise about angry young men and kitchen sinks, the exploit of the Royal Court was viewed as heroic. A lot of people cared about it. The snag was that not enough of them expressed their feelings by purchasing tickets" (Wardle 1978, p. 188). Richardson, Tony (1993). Long Distance Runner: A Memoir. Eyre Methuen. ISBN0-413-39330-5. Wardle, Irving (1978). The Theatres of George Devine. Faber and Faber. ISBN0-571-16852-3.
Gilleman, Luc (2008). "From Coward and Rattigan to Osborne: Or the Enduring Importance of Look Back in Anger". Modern Drama. 51 (1): 104–124. doi:10.3138/md.51.1.104. S2CID163110701.
Gilleman, Luc (2008). "From Coward and Rattigan to Osborne: Or the Enduring Importance of Look Back in Anger". Modern Drama. 51 (1): 104–124. doi:10.3138/md.51.1.104. S2CID163110701.
