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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2017 16:58:46 GMT
Fellow fans of Joe Orton might be interested in a documentary screened on BBC2 at 9pm this coming Saturday. There will be excerpts from his plays, and contributions from Kenneth Cranham and Patricia Routledge of all people! It’s been fifty years since his death, although the timing of this is rather odd as he died in August 1967, not November. Could be interesting...
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Post by Tibidabo on Nov 22, 2017 18:18:18 GMT
Oooh good spot @caiaphas. Thanks for this. Love a bit of Orton.
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Post by lynette on Nov 22, 2017 18:27:09 GMT
Yes, thanks, interesting
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2017 18:28:46 GMT
Sounds interesting!
Patricia Routledge was in Orton's TV play "The Good and Faithful Servant", filmed the year he died, and presumably met him as he was present for rehearsals.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2017 19:14:46 GMT
Sounds interesting! Patricia Routledge was in Orton's TV play "The Good and Faithful Servant", filmed the year he died, and presumably met him as he was present for rehearsals. Well I never! I thought he’d have been a bit risqué for her. I thought she had a reputation for being a bit of a prude. (When she played Irene in Alan Bennett’s Lady of Letters she refused to say “f*** up” as written. Instead she insisted she said “piss up”! Both work actually, and it’s still incredibly funny in the context.) |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 26, 2017 8:02:11 GMT
This was a bit of a treat: some newly staged scenes from Sloane, Loot and Butler, with Up Against It and a very rude sketch thrown in for good measure! Great cast (Jaime Winstone being the exception) including Ben Miles, Anthony Sher, Freddie Fox (with his trousers off of course!) Enlightening contributions from his sister Leonie, a host of names who'd worked with him, the librarian who worked in the library where Orton defaced the books and who wasn’t judged by him for being black, and even a nice chap who’d once had it off with him in a public toilet off the Kings Road! I’ve seen many picures of Orton but I can’t recall ever seeing him on film, moving and speaking, so this was something in itself. And Orton would have loved someone called Dick actually playing him in this! Thanks Bryan, and thanks Joe. I’m sure you’d have gone on to write many more mini-masterpieces for us if you hadn’t met your end in Noel Road all those years ago.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 26, 2017 21:31:26 GMT
Thanks for that caiaphas, I could easily have missed the programme if not for your heads up. I found it a very informative experience with a good insight into his relationship with Kenneth Halliwell. It certainly makes you think of those unwritten mini-masterpieces and what might have been if he had lived. Just looking at his sister and seeing how eloquent she is gives me a good idea into how lucid he would have been today in his mid eighties.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 26, 2017 21:35:12 GMT
I thought this was great, but it also hinted at the dark underbelly of showbiz. Joe Orton was feted because of his fame, invited to this and that while Halliwell, who you could say was his teacher or mentor, was mocked as a nobody. I found that aspect truly horrible. Halliwell was like a wife who had given intellectual nurture and encouragement who was then cast off as soon as Orton gained a bit of success. It would only have taken a couple of failures for Orton to be so consigned himself. I saw Loot at The Park Theatre this year and thought it was great, even though farce has fallen out of fashion. The documentary contained new material and his sister hints that she has archived a lot more, which has not been seen. I dare say I will be dead and buried when that is finally revealed, although you youngsters have that to look forward to.
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Post by Phantom of London on Nov 26, 2017 22:22:57 GMT
Thanks for the heads up, downloaded on the IPad to watch in the US, surprised there hasn’t been a revival to mark the occasion, Well that is my pitiful excuse to see a production of Entertaining Mr Sloane.
Also it is 50 years, since the Lord Chamberlain has been abolished, I thought a bigger deal would have been made of it, than it has, with once banned plays being performed. It all started with Hair.
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Post by lynette on Nov 27, 2017 18:24:59 GMT
Watched this documentary now and saw Loot earlier this year at the Park so now let's have a revival of the of the plays.
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