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The Complete Plays
This volume contains every play written by Joe Orton, who emerged in the 1960s as the most talented comic playwright in recent English history and was considered the direct successor to Wilde, Shaw, and Coward.
448 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1967
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About the author
Joe Orton
46 books85 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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
June 29, 2022
"All classes are criminal today. We live in an age of equality."
- Funeral Games
Ain't that the truth.
When the world is driving you crazy, the best revenge is to read some tried and true satire. And who better to scratch this itch than Joe Orton. It's been a while since I chewed the fat with Mr Orton. I can't help but wonder what he'd think of the world today, which seems to be slowly imploding. With politicians acting like toddlers in the sandpit, point scoring and finger pointing, instead of working together for the greater good. Bureaucracy gone mad. I'm sure Joe would love it, and would have written a devilish play about it.
Beaurocracy is a theme in his play What The Butler Saw. No sacred cow is safe from the sharp nib of Orton. The more outrageous he could be, the better. His aim was to be as controversial as possible. To get under your skin. His characters are either amoral, excessive and out for all they can get, or utterly clueless to the point of frustration.
A hidden camera, a dodgy doctor, sexually inappropriate behaviour at the workplace. This was written in 1969. Only the fashions have changed.
The farce is beyond farcical. Over the top black humour. Brilliant.
This was the last of Orton's plays written before his untimely death at the hands of his jealous lover.
RANCE: Then a new and frightening possibility presents itself. The drugs in this box - (he lifts up the bright red pill box) - may not have been used for suicide, but for murder. Your husband has made away with his secretary!
MRS PRENTICE (pours a whisky with a nervous laugh): Isn't that a little melodramatic, doctor?
RANCE: Lunatics are melodramatic. The subtleties of drama are lost on them.
If you're not familiar with Joe Orton or his writing, I'd highly recommend Prick Up Your Ears by John Lahr.
Of the "complete plays" in this anthology, I have only reviewed What The Butler Saw.This edition contains all of Orton's plays. From the lesser known The Ruffian On The Stair and Entertaining Mr Sloane through to his hits such as Loot and the one I've reviewed. It was fun flicking through the book, and re-visiting long forgotten lines. They still retain so much bite. The other plays await another Saturday arvo reading.
This was just the tonic for a world gone mad. It reinforces to me that only the names and dates change. Oh, and the fashions.
And the last word must go to Orton.
NICK: Get some clothes on him and dump him outside. Let him sleep it off.
PRENTICE (ringing his hands): How shall I explain the presence in my garden of the drugged body of a police sargeant?
NICK (putting the dress on SERGEANT MATCH): You're guilty. You don't have to explain. Only the innocent do that.
Touché.
- Funeral Games
Ain't that the truth.
When the world is driving you crazy, the best revenge is to read some tried and true satire. And who better to scratch this itch than Joe Orton. It's been a while since I chewed the fat with Mr Orton. I can't help but wonder what he'd think of the world today, which seems to be slowly imploding. With politicians acting like toddlers in the sandpit, point scoring and finger pointing, instead of working together for the greater good. Bureaucracy gone mad. I'm sure Joe would love it, and would have written a devilish play about it.
Beaurocracy is a theme in his play What The Butler Saw. No sacred cow is safe from the sharp nib of Orton. The more outrageous he could be, the better. His aim was to be as controversial as possible. To get under your skin. His characters are either amoral, excessive and out for all they can get, or utterly clueless to the point of frustration.
A hidden camera, a dodgy doctor, sexually inappropriate behaviour at the workplace. This was written in 1969. Only the fashions have changed.
The farce is beyond farcical. Over the top black humour. Brilliant.
This was the last of Orton's plays written before his untimely death at the hands of his jealous lover.
RANCE: Then a new and frightening possibility presents itself. The drugs in this box - (he lifts up the bright red pill box) - may not have been used for suicide, but for murder. Your husband has made away with his secretary!
MRS PRENTICE (pours a whisky with a nervous laugh): Isn't that a little melodramatic, doctor?
RANCE: Lunatics are melodramatic. The subtleties of drama are lost on them.
If you're not familiar with Joe Orton or his writing, I'd highly recommend Prick Up Your Ears by John Lahr.
Of the "complete plays" in this anthology, I have only reviewed What The Butler Saw.This edition contains all of Orton's plays. From the lesser known The Ruffian On The Stair and Entertaining Mr Sloane through to his hits such as Loot and the one I've reviewed. It was fun flicking through the book, and re-visiting long forgotten lines. They still retain so much bite. The other plays await another Saturday arvo reading.
This was just the tonic for a world gone mad. It reinforces to me that only the names and dates change. Oh, and the fashions.
And the last word must go to Orton.
NICK: Get some clothes on him and dump him outside. Let him sleep it off.
PRENTICE (ringing his hands): How shall I explain the presence in my garden of the drugged body of a police sargeant?
NICK (putting the dress on SERGEANT MATCH): You're guilty. You don't have to explain. Only the innocent do that.
Touché.
May 25, 2022
Simply a terrific blast of black comic genius! I doubt I'll read a better collection of plays in the same book ever again. Orton is unquestionably, along with Stoppard & Pinter, at the top when it comes to my fave British playwrights. Had he not died so tragically he could have gone on to become the greatest British playwright of the 20th century in my opinion.
May 17, 2018
I discovered Joe Orton in a second-hand bookshop, on the bottom shelf, between a travelogue and a potboiler triller. The cover seemed suitably serious in its grotesque, and the back cover showed a man in his early thirties, crisply sunburnt, sitting back on a patio folding chair wearing nothing but an amused smirk and a pair of decidedly front-and-centre white briefs, fashionable half a century ago. He's looking at the camera as if to say: "What you see is only the tip of what you'll get."
The mixed metaphor, the innuendo, and the natural smugness are a comedic staple—black comedy in his case. The picture spoke to me: I placed a coin on the counter. The yellowing, 1987 copy of his life's work became mine.
(Orton was bludgeoned to death by his partner at the age of 34, in 1967, only a few years after his commercial breakthrough. I got an awkward smile from the cashier who rang up the book—it's always poignant paying virtually nothing for all that somebody’s left behind.)
The pictures were right. A grotesque and unabashed pushing and pulling of sensibilities is just the beginning of what's between the covers.
The four shorter plays are The Ruffian on the Stair (innocent absurdity that turns deathly), The Erpingham Camp (demonic farce set in a holiday camp with a dictatorial manager), Funeral Games (upending of the adultery and wife-gone-missing trope), and The Good and Faithful Servant (a farcical, tragical end to a worker’s fifty years at a firm).
The three longer plays are more fun to read, and in places hilarious—I can only imagine how entertaining they'd have been staged.
Entertaining Mr. Sloane is about a young man (Mr. Sloane) who blunders into a combative, unhealthy brother-and-sister relationship, which makes for a ridiculous third-wheel act.
What the Butler Saw has no butler as far as I could tell, but it pushes the mistaken identity trope to the limit. It's set—naturally—in a psychiatrist's clinic. And the psychiatrist—naturally—keeps asking people (potential secretary, page-boy, policeman) to undress and swap clothes. The psychiatrist's wife is—naturally—a lesbian nymphomaniac who gets sexually attacked, then blackmailed, by the page-boy. As the play commences a government inspector, another psychiatrist—naturally—comes around to the clinic and finds reason to certify most people, at one time or another, as insane. Everything that can go wrong, does go wrong in the most implausible way possible.
Probably the most controversial of Orton's plays was Loot. Hal and Dennis have robbed a bank and need a place to hide the loot. Hal's mother has just died, her burial is today, her coffin is as good a places as any. Though what should they do with the body? The old woman's nurse, Fay, has a backstory of her own. A policeman, Truscott, claims to be from the metropolitan water board and therefore needs no warrant to enter the house and inspect it. McLeavy is father of Hal, husband of the deceased, grieving widower. Here are a few lines that'll give you an idea of what to be prepared for (this is black comedy, so a thick skin is required):
When Truscott finally reveals he is a policeman:
And then there's the line:
If you're a fan of black comedy, you'll enjoy Orton.
The mixed metaphor, the innuendo, and the natural smugness are a comedic staple—black comedy in his case. The picture spoke to me: I placed a coin on the counter. The yellowing, 1987 copy of his life's work became mine.
(Orton was bludgeoned to death by his partner at the age of 34, in 1967, only a few years after his commercial breakthrough. I got an awkward smile from the cashier who rang up the book—it's always poignant paying virtually nothing for all that somebody’s left behind.)
The pictures were right. A grotesque and unabashed pushing and pulling of sensibilities is just the beginning of what's between the covers.
The four shorter plays are The Ruffian on the Stair (innocent absurdity that turns deathly), The Erpingham Camp (demonic farce set in a holiday camp with a dictatorial manager), Funeral Games (upending of the adultery and wife-gone-missing trope), and The Good and Faithful Servant (a farcical, tragical end to a worker’s fifty years at a firm).
The three longer plays are more fun to read, and in places hilarious—I can only imagine how entertaining they'd have been staged.
Entertaining Mr. Sloane is about a young man (Mr. Sloane) who blunders into a combative, unhealthy brother-and-sister relationship, which makes for a ridiculous third-wheel act.
What the Butler Saw has no butler as far as I could tell, but it pushes the mistaken identity trope to the limit. It's set—naturally—in a psychiatrist's clinic. And the psychiatrist—naturally—keeps asking people (potential secretary, page-boy, policeman) to undress and swap clothes. The psychiatrist's wife is—naturally—a lesbian nymphomaniac who gets sexually attacked, then blackmailed, by the page-boy. As the play commences a government inspector, another psychiatrist—naturally—comes around to the clinic and finds reason to certify most people, at one time or another, as insane. Everything that can go wrong, does go wrong in the most implausible way possible.
Probably the most controversial of Orton's plays was Loot. Hal and Dennis have robbed a bank and need a place to hide the loot. Hal's mother has just died, her burial is today, her coffin is as good a places as any. Though what should they do with the body? The old woman's nurse, Fay, has a backstory of her own. A policeman, Truscott, claims to be from the metropolitan water board and therefore needs no warrant to enter the house and inspect it. McLeavy is father of Hal, husband of the deceased, grieving widower. Here are a few lines that'll give you an idea of what to be prepared for (this is black comedy, so a thick skin is required):
[Fay on being asked to covey whenever Mrs. McLeavy said anything before she died.]
FAY. She accused her husband of murder.
Sensation.
Me? Are you sure she accused me?
FAY. Yes.
MCLEAVY. Complete extinction has done nothing to silence her slanderous tongue.
TRUSCOTT. Was anyone with her at the end? (To HAL.) Were you?
HAL. Yes.
TRUSCOTT. Was the uneasy? Did she leave no last message?
HAL. No.
TRUSCOTT.Was this her usual custom?
HAL. She hadn’t died before.
TRUSCOTT. Not to the best of your knowledge
When Truscott finally reveals he is a policeman:
TRUSCOTT. Have you never hear of Truscott? The man who tracked down the limbless girl killer? Or was that sensation before your time?
HAL. Who would kill a limbless girl?
TRUSCOTT. She was the killer.
And then there's the line:
God is a gentleman. He prefers blondes.
If you're a fan of black comedy, you'll enjoy Orton.
September 25, 2011
This is a re-read for me, and to be transparent, a favorite. Orton was masterful at satirizing the pious and powerful, and the fact that his work can still make relevant social commentary more than 40 years after its creation, speaks to the man's talent (and sadly our inability to transcend our hypocrisies). When I first encountered Orton at 21 I was tickled by his irreverence, but now 21 years later I am humbled by his craft. The 7 plays in this collection represent his entire portfolio because he only worked with popular success for 3 years prior to is murder. All of the work shows a sophistication in comedy that never loses a laugh for the sake of pretension, but neither does it simply seek entertainment without a theme. It dances the delicate balance great writing seems to enjoy, where the author can invent a world that transports the reader (or audience-goer) to delightful imaginary circumstances, while casting an unblinking eye on the difficult compromises reality demands. And Orton did this before he was 34 years old. Brilliant.
October 5, 2007
Joe Orton has 'it' in spades. A fantastic writer who wrote amazing and super witty plays. Oscar Wilde died and somehow he ended up in the body and brains of a Mr. Joe Orton. How did that happen?
August 26, 2025
while all of orton’s plays are rather similar in tone and circumstance, they are still a good romp in darkly comic english farce. entertaining mr. sloane was a clear highlight of the bunch, but i did find a great deal to admire in the bitterness of the good and faithful servant.
January 2, 2011
Nobody stirs a comic, deadly cafe
noir like Joe Orton.
noir like Joe Orton.
May 4, 2025
"Truth must win. Otherwise life is impossible." - Funeral Games
A great playwright? I'm not sure, he died before that could be seen to its conclusion. But definitely one of our most important. The three full-length plays here are each models of comic ferocity, culminating in the honest-to-God masterpiece that is What the Butler Saw.
-
The Ruffian on the Stair: 3/5 - Quick, slight, provocative. Unabashedly enjoyable.
Entertaining Mr Sloane: 4/5 - Vicious in its manner, crude in its construction, massive in its influence.
The Good and Faithful Servant: 3/5 - Feels very Alan Bennett. Cruelty with a smile on its face.
Loot: 4/5 - Pitch-black in it's humour, white-hot in its cruelty.
The Erpingham Camp: 3/5 - An unexpected Bakkhai!
Funeral Games: 3/5 - Trademark Orton, but very much on the surface. Perhaps that's what happens when you end up writing for ITV.
What the Butler Saw: 5/5 - an honest to God comic masterpiece. A feat of plotting and wit. And it still feels dangerous.
A great playwright? I'm not sure, he died before that could be seen to its conclusion. But definitely one of our most important. The three full-length plays here are each models of comic ferocity, culminating in the honest-to-God masterpiece that is What the Butler Saw.
-
The Ruffian on the Stair: 3/5 - Quick, slight, provocative. Unabashedly enjoyable.
Entertaining Mr Sloane: 4/5 - Vicious in its manner, crude in its construction, massive in its influence.
The Good and Faithful Servant: 3/5 - Feels very Alan Bennett. Cruelty with a smile on its face.
Loot: 4/5 - Pitch-black in it's humour, white-hot in its cruelty.
The Erpingham Camp: 3/5 - An unexpected Bakkhai!
Funeral Games: 3/5 - Trademark Orton, but very much on the surface. Perhaps that's what happens when you end up writing for ITV.
What the Butler Saw: 5/5 - an honest to God comic masterpiece. A feat of plotting and wit. And it still feels dangerous.
April 13, 2023
These plays published here in the order in which they were written read well on the page. The laughs were all there even as the plots stuck to the forms of farce with an extra twist of sex and murder. It all culminates with What the Butler Saw which both satirizes the form and exemplifies it. A tiny cast delivers maximum chaos. Joyous stuff. This edition comes with a great intro from Orton biographer, John Lahr which includes extracts from Orton's own diaries, revealing the thoughtful and erudite mind behind the transgressive persona.
July 8, 2023
A long time ago I watched Joe Orton's "Loot" in the theatre and fell in love with the author's work. It's an amazing social commentary told from the perspective of a very interesting person.
If you have a chance to watch any Joe Orton play, take it.
If you have a chance to watch any Joe Orton play, take it.
March 5, 2012
Reading this ‘Complete Plays’ of Joe Orton was a roller-coaster ride, in that it suddenly went from very high to very very low. Starting with 'The Ruffian on the Stair', in which a strange man inexplicably enters to the flat of a housewife and threatens to kill her, to the brilliant 'Entertaining Mr. Sloane', I was transfixed; and couldn’t wait to read more and more and more and- then the anti-climax of the other plays. 'The Good and Faithful Servant' was ok, but 'Loot' painful and by god it took me weeks to finish the last play, 'What The Butler Saw', forcing myself to swallow a peek of a page a day.
'Entertaining Mr. Sloane' was a fantastic study of three warped characters, whom at points you feel MUST be caricatures, so extreme are their beliefs and empty are their morals, but then at other times you have the feeling that you are simply being permitted to look behind the curtains in to the world of any messed up lower-middle class suburban family. The play is of course fairly unreal, but contains enough of the recognizable to provoke sensations of deep discomfort.
From this, for the remaining plays Orton plunges from the subtleties and darkness of the first two pieces in to simple farce. Now I don’t really like farce and hardly see the point of it when if you are bored out of your skull you can watch TV for free. I therefore enjoy reading farce even less. Stage directions such as “DR. PRENTICE pulls GERLADINE’s trousers down. She beats him away weeping profusely. She pulls her trousers up. DR. PRENTICE wards off NICK and tries to prevent GERALDINE pulling up her trousers. SERGEANT MATCH enters dizzily from the dispensary, stumbling across the room, crashing and upsetting furniture” leave me feeling as though someone has surgically removed 95% of my brain. However I will say that my extreme lack of amusement is at least testament to a certain skill in Orton: his later plays are so complicated and as teeteringly structured as a 10-storey stack of playing cards that I have to credit him with a tight control on his plays. However with their witty quips and being set in psychiatric wards, funeral homes and holiday camps, they are as entertaining as if a faux-intellectual student sat down to write a Carry On script. So my advice would be: read the first two plays, both skillful and dark, and then put the book back on your shelves IMMEDIATELY.
January 7, 2009
Orton's plays are filled with such an exuberant joy and excitement that it almost makes up for the fact that most of his plays are essentially the same. On their own, his plays are quite good, but his voice is so strong that once you understand where he is coming from they are pretty predictable. But they are always a joy and full of life.
For me the play that stands out the most is Entertaining Mr Sloane. While it fits in with his other pieces, it stands out both because of its structure, its cartoonishness, and its subtlety (you wouldn't think those qualities would exist in the same play). And Mr Sloane is a part I would love to play.
Other stand outs are Loot, Funeral Games, and What the Butler Saw for being the most successful examples of Orton's aesthetic.
For me the play that stands out the most is Entertaining Mr Sloane. While it fits in with his other pieces, it stands out both because of its structure, its cartoonishness, and its subtlety (you wouldn't think those qualities would exist in the same play). And Mr Sloane is a part I would love to play.
Other stand outs are Loot, Funeral Games, and What the Butler Saw for being the most successful examples of Orton's aesthetic.
August 21, 2013
What the Butler Saw: absolutely brilliant. Undermines conventional values at every step, yet makes a nod to tradition (theatrical tradition, at least) in reaching the conclusion. In 2013 I read it as part of a search for inspiration, and/or ideas to steal, in connection with a play project. Maybe not a smart choice for a model, as work on this level is inimitable, but shouldn't one's ideals be ideal?
The introduction, by John Lahr, gives a valuable summary of Orton's life and work, as one would expect. Lahr wrote a full-length biography of Orton (Prick Up Your Ears) and is a practicing theater critic as well.
Other plays in this book: I've postponed reading them for the time being.
The introduction, by John Lahr, gives a valuable summary of Orton's life and work, as one would expect. Lahr wrote a full-length biography of Orton (Prick Up Your Ears) and is a practicing theater critic as well.
Other plays in this book: I've postponed reading them for the time being.
January 16, 2015
Out of all the plays, the only one that really caught my full attention was "Loot". Which sounds awful and somewhat cliche, but i'm sure if i saw these performed I might feel differently, reading them on paper is different from seeing it on stage. I never really enjoy reading plays, for the most part, because it's like i'm only reading the dialogue and therefore only getting part of the overall experience. It's like watching films without color or sound.
That being said, I do respect Orton. Maybe folks in my class hated his work, but after a lengthy discussion I respected him for his moxy and "sticking it to the man", as it were. If you love Wilde but think he plays it safe too much, Orton is a good follow-up.
That being said, I do respect Orton. Maybe folks in my class hated his work, but after a lengthy discussion I respected him for his moxy and "sticking it to the man", as it were. If you love Wilde but think he plays it safe too much, Orton is a good follow-up.
August 20, 2011
Joe Orton redefined English theater in a way that is almost impossible to describe except to say that anyone who has ever laughed at Monty Python sketch owes him a pint. Violent, insane, brilliantly funny, this collection of plays displays the virtuosic wit and biting social satire that defined Orton's short career. If there is ultimately a lack of compassion for humanity it may be what we would have ultimately seen in Orton's later plays if he had lived to write them. In the end, it is this lack of broader scope that makes his work amusing and interesting to me rather than deeply satisfying- but that he's memorable is absolutely certain, and very much worth reading.
July 18, 2012
When I was 15 years old, I was a bit precocious. One of the guys I met, 5 years old (so much older!) recommended Joe Orton. He figured I was too young to really get it. What he didn't realize was that my English education at a public school was at a higher level than many entrance college English courses.
I not only understood this but I enjoyed it. It was deviant and not something my parents would have approved. I did use it in my English class in Junior year. It didn't go so well. The teachers weren't amused with my personal reading material. Now that I'm in my thirties, I understand why. I see this from a different view than as a 15 year. Still enjoyable!
I not only understood this but I enjoyed it. It was deviant and not something my parents would have approved. I did use it in my English class in Junior year. It didn't go so well. The teachers weren't amused with my personal reading material. Now that I'm in my thirties, I understand why. I see this from a different view than as a 15 year. Still enjoyable!
July 24, 2015
Joe Orton rivals Oscar Wilde in his ability to pack quippy quotes into highly stylized dialogue but there's also a shocking viciousness -- especially in his last play "What the Butler Saw" -- that can come into play and which foreshadows Neil LaBute. (Or is it a weirdness that presages David Lynch?) At his best -- "Entertaining Mr. Sloane," "Loot," "The Ruffian on the Stairs" -- he's as subversively funny as anything you'll ever find onstage. At his worst ("The Erpingham Camp"), he's fascinatingly cruel and probably still worth producing. Nothing of his isn't worth your time. I saw a production of "Sloane" while I was in college and still think about the lost dentures.
February 26, 2019
Orton is a bizarre writer. A genius no doubt. Taken from us too soon. But what he left behind is outstanding.
He’s like the absurdist for the Carry On generation. All very British but with sadistically dark undertones. A lot of ‘fuck’, ‘piss’, and innuendoes. Lot of gay undertones. Lot of shady characters.
It is all highly intelligent though shaded in simplicity - except for What The Butler Saw, that left me feeling mentally exhausted for three days (honestly). Often I was blown away by Orton’s writing. Often I was surprised.
What I’m trying to say is; Orton is great. So read him. If you read one of his plays you’ll read them all. Well I did. In quick succession.
Enjoy.
He’s like the absurdist for the Carry On generation. All very British but with sadistically dark undertones. A lot of ‘fuck’, ‘piss’, and innuendoes. Lot of gay undertones. Lot of shady characters.
It is all highly intelligent though shaded in simplicity - except for What The Butler Saw, that left me feeling mentally exhausted for three days (honestly). Often I was blown away by Orton’s writing. Often I was surprised.
What I’m trying to say is; Orton is great. So read him. If you read one of his plays you’ll read them all. Well I did. In quick succession.
Enjoy.
March 9, 2008
High five! Funny, dark, rude, insightful, clever, uncomfortable-making. Just so well written, one after another after another. Amazing that in the space of three/four years he wrote all of these, and the next thing he was redrum-ed. Reading the notes made me like him even more. What The Butler Saw and Funeral Games were a bit too farcical for my liking, but I'm not de-starring it for that. I think I'd just read too many plays in one go, and I did enjoy the references to psychoanalysis in WTBS. Top notch!
September 19, 2007
I have read all these plays and even have the distinction of having directed his play Funeral Games. It was the first production of this play done in the United States. He was a well liked English playwright who made the statement that rather than grow old he would rather be remembered as a good looking corpse. he shouldnt have said that as he was murdered by his lover at a very early age.He wrote comedies mostly on the dark side and to this day they are still being done all over the world.
March 23, 2008
I've had this crazy idea that I should read an author's complete works in the chronological order in which they wrote them to better understand them. This book shows me quite clearly that this isn't a good policy, since Joe Orton's early plays were BORING, and his last two, Loot and What the Butler Saw were fucking amazing!
Point of the story is, there's often a reason an authors lesser known works are lesser known.
Point of the story is, there's often a reason an authors lesser known works are lesser known.
March 8, 2016
Joe Orton was Oscar Wilde in leather, and his comedies of bad manners are charged with all the subversion and perversion he could manage in a short three year career before his head was bashed in with a hammer by his lover in 1967. “Entertaining Mr. Sloane,” “What the Butler Saw,” and “Loot” are the plays for which he will always be remembered, all three outrages to common decency and exploding with anarchic wit.
December 14, 2013
Hard-boiled camp that's what Orton is dishing up here. Disturbing, disorientating, and downright drole. Let Mr Orton take you in hand and pull you off ... into his dark places. Strange young gentlemen with dubious pasts, misplaced cadavers, double entendres, retirement clocks, statemen's cocks ...
May 3, 2017
It's fascinating to see the development of the dramatist across the duration of this collection, from the tentative "King's Cross Station toilet" appointment of Ruffian on the Stair through to the all-out, balls-to-the-wall, door-slamming, cross-dressing farce of What the Butler Saw.
A major talent lost too early.
A major talent lost too early.
August 2, 2008
This man's understanding of comedy is like a bat's. Or rather as sonar is to bat so is comedy to Joe Orton. He was murdered of course, but not by me. I don't feel the same way about Joe Orton as I do about Samuel Beckett. And besides, I wasn't even alive then.
Read
February 2, 2009Started slow, I wasn't all that certain why such a fuss had been made over Orton's black comedies, but it has been steadily gaining steam ever since. I am on Loot right now, which must be his best known and most accessible work. It is very funny, reminiscent of Dario Fo, to a degree.
October 20, 2010
Each of the plays have their moments, but only What The Butler Saw struck me as being a total success. Of course, being plays, they are meant to be seen, not just read, so it's possible that the other plays perform better than they read.
July 3, 2011
I've only seen Loot and Sloane performed, and they remain my favourites. Great fun to read. I struggled with What the Butler Saw because ... I don't like any of the characters. Perhaps it works better in performance?
July 23, 2013
Joe Orton was such a gifted playwright. His satire is scathing and hilarious at the same time. I was laughing all through the plays. A must read. A note for the prude- Don't read unless prepared to handle Ortanesque comedy.
February 17, 2008
“That's typical of your upbringing, baby. Every luxury was lavished on you--atheism, breast-feeding, circumcision. I had to make my own way.”
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