What do you think?
The Ruffian on the Stair
The play centres around three characters, Wilson, Mike and Joyce. Wilson forces himself into the home of Mike, a petty crook and Joyce, a former prostitute. Mike has run down Wilson’s brother in his van and while Mike is out, Wilson terrifies Joyce who is alone at home.
61 pages, Unknown Binding
About the author
Joe Orton
29 books89 followersJohn Kingsley ("Joe") Orton was an English playwright. In a short but prolific career lasting from 1964 until his death in 1967, he shocked, outraged, and amused audiences with his scandalous black comedies. The adjective Ortonesque is now used to refer to something characterised by a dark but farcical cynicism.
Joe Orton began to write plays in the early 1960s. He wrote his only novel: posthumously published as Head to Toe, in 1959, and had his writing accepted soon afterward. In 1963 the BBC paid £65 for the radio play The Ruffian on the Stair, broadcast on 31 August 1964. It was substantially rewritten for the stage in 1966.
Orton had completed Entertaining Mr. Sloane by the time Ruffian was broadcast. The play premiered on 6 May 1964 directed by Michael Codron. Reviews ranged from praise to outrage. It lost money in its 3-week run, but critical praise from playwright Terence Rattigan, who invested £3,000 in it, ensured its survival. Sloane tied for first in the Variety Critics' Poll for "Best New Play" and Orton came second for "Most Promising Playwright." Within a year, Sloane was being performed in New York, Spain, Israel and Australia, as well as being made into a film and a television play.
Orton's next work was Loot, written between June and October 1964. The play is a wild parody of detective fiction, adding the blackest farce and jabs at established ideas on death, the police, religion, and justice. It underwent sweeping rewrites before it was judged fit for the West End. Codron had manoeuvred Orton into meeting his colleague Kenneth Williams in August 1964. Orton reworked Loot with Williams in mind for Truscott. His other inspiration for the role was DS Harold Challenor. The play opened to scathing reviews. Loot moved to the West End in November 1966, raising Orton's confidence to new heights while he was in the middle of writing What the Butler Saw. Loot went on to win several awards and firmly established Orton's fame. He sold the film rights for £25,000 although he was certain it would flop. It did, but Orton, still on an absolute high, proceeded over the next ten months to revise The Ruffian on the Stair and The Erpingham Camp for the stage as a double called Crimes of Passion; wrote Funeral Games; wrote the screenplay Up Against It for the Beatles; and worked on What the Butler Saw.
The Good and Faithful Servant was a transitional work for Orton. A one-act television play completed by June 1964 but first broadcast by Associated-Rediffusion on 6 April 1967. The Erpingham Camp, Orton's take on The Bacchae, written through mid-1965 and offered to Rediffusion in October of that year, was broadcast on 27 June 1966 as the 'pride' segment in their series Seven Deadly Sins.
Orton wrote Funeral Games from July to November 1966 for a 1967 Rediffusion series, The Seven Deadly Virtues, It dealt with charity--especially Christian charity—in a confusion of adultery and murder. Rediffusion did not use the play; instead, it was made as one of the first productions of the new ITV company Yorkshire Television, and broadcast on 26 August 1968.
On 9 August 1967, Orton's lover Kenneth Halliwell bludgeoned 34-year-old Orton to death at his home in Islington, London, with a hammer and then committed suicide with an overdose of Nembutal tablets. Investigators determined that Halliwell died first, because Orton's body was still warm. Orton was cremated at the Golders Green Crematorium, his coffin brought into the chapel to The Beatles song "A Day in the Life". Harold Pinter read the eulogy saying "He was a bloody marvellous writer."
In his hometown, Leicester, a new pedestrian concourse outside the Curve theatre's main entrance is named "Orton Square." John Lahr wrote a biography of Orton entitled Prick Up Your Ears in 1978. A 1987 film adaptation directed by Stephen Frears starred Gary Oldman as Orton and Alfred Molina as Halliwell. Alan Bennett wrote the screenplay.
Joe Orton began to write plays in the early 1960s. He wrote his only novel: posthumously published as Head to Toe, in 1959, and had his writing accepted soon afterward. In 1963 the BBC paid £65 for the radio play The Ruffian on the Stair, broadcast on 31 August 1964. It was substantially rewritten for the stage in 1966.
Orton had completed Entertaining Mr. Sloane by the time Ruffian was broadcast. The play premiered on 6 May 1964 directed by Michael Codron. Reviews ranged from praise to outrage. It lost money in its 3-week run, but critical praise from playwright Terence Rattigan, who invested £3,000 in it, ensured its survival. Sloane tied for first in the Variety Critics' Poll for "Best New Play" and Orton came second for "Most Promising Playwright." Within a year, Sloane was being performed in New York, Spain, Israel and Australia, as well as being made into a film and a television play.
Orton's next work was Loot, written between June and October 1964. The play is a wild parody of detective fiction, adding the blackest farce and jabs at established ideas on death, the police, religion, and justice. It underwent sweeping rewrites before it was judged fit for the West End. Codron had manoeuvred Orton into meeting his colleague Kenneth Williams in August 1964. Orton reworked Loot with Williams in mind for Truscott. His other inspiration for the role was DS Harold Challenor. The play opened to scathing reviews. Loot moved to the West End in November 1966, raising Orton's confidence to new heights while he was in the middle of writing What the Butler Saw. Loot went on to win several awards and firmly established Orton's fame. He sold the film rights for £25,000 although he was certain it would flop. It did, but Orton, still on an absolute high, proceeded over the next ten months to revise The Ruffian on the Stair and The Erpingham Camp for the stage as a double called Crimes of Passion; wrote Funeral Games; wrote the screenplay Up Against It for the Beatles; and worked on What the Butler Saw.
The Good and Faithful Servant was a transitional work for Orton. A one-act television play completed by June 1964 but first broadcast by Associated-Rediffusion on 6 April 1967. The Erpingham Camp, Orton's take on The Bacchae, written through mid-1965 and offered to Rediffusion in October of that year, was broadcast on 27 June 1966 as the 'pride' segment in their series Seven Deadly Sins.
Orton wrote Funeral Games from July to November 1966 for a 1967 Rediffusion series, The Seven Deadly Virtues, It dealt with charity--especially Christian charity—in a confusion of adultery and murder. Rediffusion did not use the play; instead, it was made as one of the first productions of the new ITV company Yorkshire Television, and broadcast on 26 August 1968.
On 9 August 1967, Orton's lover Kenneth Halliwell bludgeoned 34-year-old Orton to death at his home in Islington, London, with a hammer and then committed suicide with an overdose of Nembutal tablets. Investigators determined that Halliwell died first, because Orton's body was still warm. Orton was cremated at the Golders Green Crematorium, his coffin brought into the chapel to The Beatles song "A Day in the Life". Harold Pinter read the eulogy saying "He was a bloody marvellous writer."
In his hometown, Leicester, a new pedestrian concourse outside the Curve theatre's main entrance is named "Orton Square." John Lahr wrote a biography of Orton entitled Prick Up Your Ears in 1978. A 1987 film adaptation directed by Stephen Frears starred Gary Oldman as Orton and Alfred Molina as Halliwell. Alan Bennett wrote the screenplay.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
March 12, 2013
Watch Out! here come's Joe!
The Ruffian on the Stair was the first play by Orton to get picked up, being performed on BBC Radio in 1964. It is not of a standard with Entertaining Mr. Sloane (also 1964), but we see the trademark Orton relationships. The theme of an outsider coming into a apparently happy household, and showing it for what it is, rears it's not particularly attractive head.
Orton's plot unfolds for Mike and Joyce following a visitation from twenty-four year old Wilson. Ostensibly, Wilson is looking for a room, but, overriding Joyce's objections that there is no room available, he invites himself in to their flat whilst Mike is 'at work'. He then becomes what, in cliche central, is the proverbial bad penny. Wilson turns up without fail everyday, in circumstances that I'll leave the potential reader to find out for himself. What Mike does when he is 'at work' is another 'spoiler omission', but suffice to say it involves meeting people in a variety of unusual places. While Joyce is later shown to have something of a past herself.
The characters of Mike, Joyce, and Wilson take on form and flavour from a dialogue which crackles merrily, but ominously, on it's way to Joe Orton's own distinct brand of dark mischief. He presents a couple who are already suspicious of, and not a little confused by, each other. Neither Mike nor Joyce really knows what the other is doing when they are apart, or thinking when they're together. If their relationship is not sick, then it is, at the very least, not very well. Orton then throws the disturbingly playful Wilson into this little brew.
The crux of the play revolves around something that Mike has done that has had a serious and marked effect on Wilson. It seems, on the surface, that it is Wilson who is amoral, unconcernedly using his acts to create what starts out as discomfort but turns rapidly more dangerous. The situation winds gradually nastier and we realise (in typically Ortonesque fashion) that Mike and Joyce are the more credibly questionable characters. Wilson, turning the psychological screws in, simply uses amoral means to get to what he views as the moral outcome. Things are never as they seem with Orton. But then something very odd happened, it ended.
This was a very damp squib going off, and dragged what could have been a neatly observed, short three-hander down. All the ingredients are there; two quite grubby people in a relationship, the curiously moral character of Wilson, the recent event that connects Wilson to the others, the dialogue, the ambiguity of circumstance that gradually resolves itself to make a kind of logic. Everything that is apart from a satisfying ending.
Orton is one of my favourite playwrights, the ending for The Ruffian on the Stair was telegraphing itself to me from a way before it took place. The telegram just never arrived. But I'm not really qualified to solve The Mystery of the Missing Ending. A not entirely solid 3 stars.
The Ruffian on the Stair was the first play by Orton to get picked up, being performed on BBC Radio in 1964. It is not of a standard with Entertaining Mr. Sloane (also 1964), but we see the trademark Orton relationships. The theme of an outsider coming into a apparently happy household, and showing it for what it is, rears it's not particularly attractive head.
Orton's plot unfolds for Mike and Joyce following a visitation from twenty-four year old Wilson. Ostensibly, Wilson is looking for a room, but, overriding Joyce's objections that there is no room available, he invites himself in to their flat whilst Mike is 'at work'. He then becomes what, in cliche central, is the proverbial bad penny. Wilson turns up without fail everyday, in circumstances that I'll leave the potential reader to find out for himself. What Mike does when he is 'at work' is another 'spoiler omission', but suffice to say it involves meeting people in a variety of unusual places. While Joyce is later shown to have something of a past herself.
The characters of Mike, Joyce, and Wilson take on form and flavour from a dialogue which crackles merrily, but ominously, on it's way to Joe Orton's own distinct brand of dark mischief. He presents a couple who are already suspicious of, and not a little confused by, each other. Neither Mike nor Joyce really knows what the other is doing when they are apart, or thinking when they're together. If their relationship is not sick, then it is, at the very least, not very well. Orton then throws the disturbingly playful Wilson into this little brew.
The crux of the play revolves around something that Mike has done that has had a serious and marked effect on Wilson. It seems, on the surface, that it is Wilson who is amoral, unconcernedly using his acts to create what starts out as discomfort but turns rapidly more dangerous. The situation winds gradually nastier and we realise (in typically Ortonesque fashion) that Mike and Joyce are the more credibly questionable characters. Wilson, turning the psychological screws in, simply uses amoral means to get to what he views as the moral outcome. Things are never as they seem with Orton. But then something very odd happened, it ended.
This was a very damp squib going off, and dragged what could have been a neatly observed, short three-hander down. All the ingredients are there; two quite grubby people in a relationship, the curiously moral character of Wilson, the recent event that connects Wilson to the others, the dialogue, the ambiguity of circumstance that gradually resolves itself to make a kind of logic. Everything that is apart from a satisfying ending.
Orton is one of my favourite playwrights, the ending for The Ruffian on the Stair was telegraphing itself to me from a way before it took place. The telegram just never arrived. But I'm not really qualified to solve The Mystery of the Missing Ending. A not entirely solid 3 stars.
March 16, 2015
The Ruffian on the Stair is Orton’s first play, performed on the radio rather than the stage. The plot centers around a low-class couple and a man that comes to harass/board with them. Wilson, the ruffian, pushes himself into the apartment against Joyce’s objections. Mike, the husband, appears completely unsympathetic to her concerns. He is incredibly chauvinistic and his want of appropriate sympathy creates in the audience suspicion over his motives. Wilson harasses and vandalizes the apartment. Mike is a jerk. Joyce has a less-than-admirable past. It is clear that this is a tragedy.
It turns out that Mike has severely wronged Wilson. Is Wilson interrupting the relationship of Mike and Joyce as retribution? The play gets darker, and more Machiavellian.
All in all, this is a quick read, and an interesting play. It is a bit of a puzzle, however, and to me seems unrealistic. Would a man like Wilson react in the way he has? I don’t think so. When confronted, would Mike react similarly? I don’t think so.
See my other reviews here!
It turns out that Mike has severely wronged Wilson. Is Wilson interrupting the relationship of Mike and Joyce as retribution? The play gets darker, and more Machiavellian.
All in all, this is a quick read, and an interesting play. It is a bit of a puzzle, however, and to me seems unrealistic. Would a man like Wilson react in the way he has? I don’t think so. When confronted, would Mike react similarly? I don’t think so.
See my other reviews here!
May 4, 2021
3.5 stars.
Orton often liked to borrow situations from Pinter's comedies of menace. This one is a somewhat farcical retelling of The Basement. While we can certainly see many of the trademarks of what would become known as the Ortonesque: delight in moral depravity, black and absurd humour, violence, etc., this play is very much a warm up to his later, more mature works. Overall, I'd say it was enjoyable, but flawed. The plot doesn't work out to a particularly satisfactory conclusion, but it's interesting to see how Orton's writing developed.
Orton often liked to borrow situations from Pinter's comedies of menace. This one is a somewhat farcical retelling of The Basement. While we can certainly see many of the trademarks of what would become known as the Ortonesque: delight in moral depravity, black and absurd humour, violence, etc., this play is very much a warm up to his later, more mature works. Overall, I'd say it was enjoyable, but flawed. The plot doesn't work out to a particularly satisfactory conclusion, but it's interesting to see how Orton's writing developed.
August 21, 2015
A strange and bizarre Joe Orton play with sinister dialogue.
February 6, 2025
Orton’s first play still has his trademark twists and dark humor, but feels a little underdeveloped and leaves a few loose ends begging to be tied up. Perhaps further explanation would take away some of the intrigue of all of the questions left unanswered, though. In all, it was a captivating read that I was eager to finish. Despite my criticisms, I would be remiss to give it less than 4 stars when I found it so entertaining.
October 2, 2017
Apenas tres personajes, cosas que se sugieren más que se cuentan, motivaciones que apenas se pueden adivinar, todo mezclado en una breve pero impactante obra de teatro. Seguiré con más obras del autor.
September 3, 2024
Took me a little to get on what I think is Orton's wavelength, but now that I am I'm looking forward to the rest in the collected edition I picked up on a whim. There's stuff in here that'd still offend the stiffs, which I imagine he'd be proud of.
January 25, 2022
.... alright then?
August 30, 2022
More thoughts to come as I sift through Orton's body of work in order to contrast and compare. All in all, not bad, makes me interested to see how he builds on his ideas and style in later plays. 3/5
February 11, 2023
Hilarious, awkward, mysterious, and bizarre. It’s among the best of the kitchen sink genre. Nevertheless the female character remains flat and somewhat weak next to the stronger male characters.
February 29, 2024
Odd, horrible, gritty, deadpan, and funny in all the wrong places
June 3, 2025
This needs to be seen rather than read. I’d love to see a production which recreates Orton’s claustrophobic nastiness surrounding the three beautifully written characters.
September 30, 2025
was actually the bbc dramatisation of this + several others. I wish the diary was an audiobook too
September 9, 2026
Divertidíssima!
November 3, 2020
Read as part of the Complete Plays, of which I hope to review properly.
The ruffian on the stair got its first production at the
English Stage Society in August 1966 after being originally
aired on BBC Radio in 1964. In 1967 a revised version
played at the Royal Court Theatre, London, with actor
Bernard Gallagher in the role of Mike.
September 18, 2026
not my thing sorry
August 17, 2014
Not Orton's best. It was entertaining, but its ideas just didn't resonate as I wanted them to, and the humor was fairly standard by my view. But a good look into what was to come later in his career.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews