Joe Orton (1933–1967)
Autore di The Complete Plays
Sull'Autore
Born in Leicester, Orton trained as an actor but soon turned to writing plays instead. Before his career had barely begun, however, he was murdered by his homosexual lover, apparently in a fit of jealousy over his success. Orton's shocking murder is too easily made the biographical focus for mostra altro discussion of his plays, devoted as they are to the grotesque, the perverse, and the violent. A more relevant landmark in the playwright's life might be the jail term he served for the bizarre crime of defacing library books, replacing illustrations with uproarious collages, and rewriting jacket blurbs in "mildly obscene" parodies of journalistic cliche. Assaulting the cultural consumer by transposing familiar icons and vocabulary was the key to Orton's theatrical method. But it was supplemented by a growing verbal power and stage imagery with aspirations to myth. As Orton's literary powers grew, so did the outrage of social response. The Pinterian ambiance and language of his first works, Entertaining Mr. Sloan (1964) and the radio play The Ruffian on the Stair (1966), were well received. Sloane was chosen best new British play of 1964 and won the blessing of Terence Rattigan himself. But Loot, joking with death, religion, sex, and family, proved more disturbing (it involves a slapstick charade centered on a corpse and a coffin). The first production, directed by Peter Wood, closed on tour without reaching London. It was not until 1966 that the play was staged, to acclaim, in Charles Marowitz's fringe theater. In 1969, What the Butler Saw failed in the West End, despite a cast of many famous names, including Ralph Richardson. Only the Royal Court revival of 1975 gave Orton's undoubted masterpiece its due. But by then the playwright had been dead for eight years. In the phallic epiphany with which Butler ends, as in his version of Euripides' Bacchae, The Erpingham Camp (1965), Orton calls attention to his Dionysian ambitions, his serious use of farce as a means of disruption and liberation. His last plays, in which violent animal spirits subvert dialogue of extreme, even Victorian, formality and outrageous authority figures, represent probably the greatest comic achievement of contemporary British drama. mostra meno
Fonte dell'immagine: John Burlinson
Opere di Joe Orton
The Good and Faithful Servant 3 copie
O Saque 2 copie
Farse quotidiane: Intrattenendo il signor Sloane, Il malloppo, Cio che vide il maggiordomo (1990) 1 copia
O Nosso Hóspede | A Saque 1 copia
Opere correlate
The Assassin's Cloak: An Anthology of the World's Greatest Diarists (2000) — Collaboratore, alcune edizioni — 552 copie
The Actor's Book of Scenes from New Plays: 70 Scenes for Two Actors, from Today's Hottest Playwrights (1988) — Collaboratore — 80 copie
Etichette
Informazioni generali
- Nome canonico
- Orton, Joe
- Nome legale
- Orton, John Kingsley
- Altri nomi
- Welthorpe, Edna
- Data di nascita
- 1933-01-01
- Data di morte
- 1967-08-09
- Luogo di sepoltura
- Golders Green Crematorium, London, England
- Sesso
- male
- Nazionalità
- UK
- Luogo di nascita
- Leicester, Leicestershire, England, UK
- Luogo di morte
- London, England, UK
- Causa della morte
- murder
- Luogo di residenza
- London, England, UK
- Istruzione
- Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Clark's College - Attività lavorative
- playwright
- Relazioni
- Halliwell, Kenneth (partner and murderer)
- Agente
- Peggy Ramsay
- Breve biografia
- Playwright. He specialized in black comedy; the term "Ortonesque" was coined to mean "outrageously macabre" after his work. After an uneventful childhood, except for bouts of ill health, he became interested in theatre and joined several dramatic societies. He also used this period to improve his appearance, language and make up for a lack of education. He was accepted into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art which he entered in 1951. He met Kenneth Halliwell there the same year and began a relationship that lasted until both their deaths. They collaborated on a number of novels, most of which are unpublished. Later, ideas from the novels would surface in the plays for which Orton became famous. A colorful and controversial career as an openly gay playwright began in the early sixties, however Halliwell's contributions and career were eclipsed by Orton's success and personality. Halliwell came to rely on drugs to combat his depression and frustration. It ended when he murdered Orton on August 9, 1967, and committed suicide directly afterwards. The next morning was to have been a meeting between Orton and the Beatles to discuss a script he was writing for them. Cremated at Golders Green Crematorium his ashes were mixed with Halliwell's then scattered in the Garden of Remembrance at Golders Green. Orton's most famous plays are: The Ruffian on the Stair (1964), Entertaining Mr Sloane (1964), Loot (1965), and What the Butler Saw (1969 posthumous).
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Statistiche
- Opere
- 28
- Opere correlate
- 3
- Utenti
- 1,963
- Popolarità
- #13,096
- Voto
- 3.9
- Recensioni
- 18
- ISBN
- 86
- Lingue
- 6
- Preferito da
- 5