Orton, Joe; John Lahr, Ed., Orton Diaries, The

The Orton diaries: Including the correspondence of Edna Welthorpe and others

ORTON, Joe

see notes for publisher info

Presents the candid and controversial diaries of the renowned playwright, written six months before he was murdered by his lover in 1967

The Orton Diaries

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

Harpercollins

Head to toe;

Literature & Fiction

Blond

"To be young, good-looking, healthy, famous, comparatively rich and happy is surely going against nature." When Joe Orton (1933-1967) wrote those words in his diary in May 1967, he was being hailed as the greatest comic playwright since Oscar Wilde for his darkly hilarious Entertaining Mr. Sloane and the farce hit Loot, and was completing What the Butler Saw; but less than three months later, his longtime companion, Kenneth Halliwell, smashed in Orton's skull with a hammer before killing himself. The Orton Diaries, written during his last eight months, chronicle in a remarkably candid style his outrageously unfettered life: his literary success, capped by an Evening Standard Award and overtures from the Beatles; his sexual escapades-at his mother's funeral, with a dwarf in Brighton, and, extensively, in Tangiers; and the breakdown of his sixteen-year "marriage" to Halliwell, the relationship that transformed and destroyed him. Edited with a superb introduction by John Lahr, The Orton Diaries is his crowning achievement.

History

Grand Central Publishing

Here, together for the first time in one volume, are Joe Orton's earliest and last published works. Head to Toe is the saga of Gombold, who strays onto the head of a creature some hundred miles high and begins making his way through the giant's nether regions and on toward his toes. En route, he falls into the clutches of a dominating and gender-bending policewoman; finds himself in an assassination squad whose target is the prime minister; and finally enlists in an apocalyptic war between the Left and Right Buttocks. Up Against It is a screenplay commissioned by the Beatles in 1967, in which, as Orton described it, "The boys have been caught in flagrante , become involved in dubious political activity, dressed as women, committed murder, been put in prison, and committed adultery." The two works, which mirror each other in many ways, combine elements of satire, eroticism, and nightmare with Orton's characteristic glee.

Head To Toe: A Novel & Up Against It: A Screenplay For The Beatles

Dramas & Plays

Da Capo Press

Here, together for the first time in one volume, are Joe Orton's earliest and last published works. Head to Toe is the saga of Gombold, who strays onto the head of a creature some hundred miles high and begins making his way through the giant's nether regions and on toward his toes. En route, he falls into the clutches of a dominating and gender-bending policewoman; finds himself in an assassination squad whose target is the prime minister; and finally enlists in an apocalyptic war between the Left and Right Buttocks. Up Against It is a screenplay commissioned by the Beatles in 1967, in which, as Orton described it, "The boys have been caught in flagrante, become involved in dubious political activity, dressed as women, committed murder, been put in prison, and committed adultery." The two works, which mirror each other in many ways, combine elements of satire, eroticism, and nightmare with Orton's characteristic glee.

Head to Toe

Contemporary

st.martins press

This volume contains every play written by Joe Orton, who emerged in the 1960s as the most talented comic playwright in recent English history. Orton, who was murdered in 1967 at the age of thirty-four, was considered the direct successor to Wilde, Shaw, and Coward.Includes:The Ruffian on the StairEntertaining Mr. SloaneThe Good and Faithful ServantLootThe Erpingham CampFuneral GamesWhat the Butler Saw

The Complete Plays

Grove Press, 1978

A black farce masterpiece, Loot follows the fortunes of two young thieves, Hal and Dennis. Dennis is a hearse driver for an undertaker. They have robbed the bank next door to the funeral parlour and have returned to Hal's home to hide-out with the loot. Hal's mother has just died and the pair put the money in her coffin, hiding the body elsewhere in the house. With the arrival of Inspector Truscott, the thickened plot turns topsy-turvy. Playing with all the conventions of popular farce, Orton creates a world gone mad and examines in detail English attitudes at mid-century. The play has been called a Freudian nightmare, which sports with superstitions about death - and life. It is regularly produced in professional and amateur productions. First produced in London in 1966, Loot was hailed as "the most genuinely quick-witted, pungent and sprightly entertainment by a new, young British playwright for a decade" (Sunday Telegraph).The Student Edition offers a plot summary, full commentary, character notes and questions for study, besides a chronology and bibliography.

Loot: A Play.

GROVE PRESS

"Joe Orton's last play, What the Butler Saw, will live to be accepted as a comedy classic of English literature" (Sunday Telegraph) The chase is on in this breakneck comedy of licensed insanity, from the moment when Dr Prentice, a psychoanalyst interviewing a prospective secretary, instructs her to undress. The plot of What the Butler Saw contains enough twists and turns, mishaps and changes of fortune, coincidences and lunatic logic to furnish three or four conventional comedies. But however the six characters in search of a plot lose the thread of the action - their wits or their clothes - their verbal self-possession never deserts them. Hailed as a modern comedy every bit as good as Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, Orton's play is regularly produced, read and studied. What the Butler Saw was Orton's final play."He is the Oscar Wilde of Welfare State gentility" (Observer)

What the Butler Saw a Play in Two Acts

Samuel French, Inc.

Entertaining Mr. Sloane

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Books by ORTON, Joe

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by ORTON, Joe. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Orton diaries: Including the correspondence of Edna Welthorpe and others

The Orton Diaries

Head to toe;

The Orton Diaries

Head To Toe: A Novel & Up Against It: A Screenplay For The Beatles

Head to Toe

The Complete Plays

Loot: A Play.

What the Butler Saw a Play in Two Acts

Entertaining Mr. Sloane