Who was Joe Orton?
Joe Orton was born in Leicester in 1933 and lived on the Saffron Lane council estate. After winning a scholarship to RADA in 1951, he met Kenneth Halliwell, an actor and writer seven years his senior. Halliwell would become Orton’s friend, mentor, lover and, eventually, his murderer. Between 1964 and 1967, Orton contributed to an exciting working class culture that swept through the nation. The rising star of an ‘alternative British intelligentsia’, Orton made religion, sex and death outrageously funny.
Joe Ortondubbed “the Oscar Wilde of welfare state gentility” by a London newspaperis regarded as one of Britains finest comedic playwrights. Yet he is perhaps even better known for his “bad boy” image, his open homosexuality, and his demise at the hands of his lover of 16 years. John Kingsley Orton was born on New Years Day in 1933 in a working-class neighborhood in Leicester, England. A mediocre student and later a less than conscientious employee, he lost several menial clerical jobs. “I resented having to go to work in the morning,” he admitted, “and very often I didnt bother.” After one such sacking, Ortonwho had always been drawn to the stagereceived a grant to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, after auditioning with a piece from Peter Pan. It was there that Orton, then 18, met his lover and mentor, 25-year-old Kenneth Halliwell. The men lived together in London, partly on Halliwells small inheritance, partly on income from odd jobs, and partly on the dole. In 1
John Kingsley Orton was born in Leicester in 1933 and from the age of two, lived on the Saffron Lane council estate. After winning a scholarship to RADA in 1951, he met Kenneth Halliwell, an actor and writer seven years his senior. Halliwell would become Orton’s friend, mentor, lover and, eventually, his murderer. Between 1964 and 1967, Joe Orton contributed to an exciting working class culture that swept through the nation. A promiscuous and openly gay man at a time when homosexuality was actively persecuted by the police, Orton was the rising star of an ‘alternative British intelligentsia’. His first stage play, Entertaining Mr Sloane, was a huge success while his second, Loot, won the coveted Evening Standard award for Best Play. However, Orton’s success as a playwright and celebrity put a distance between himself and Kenneth Halliwell that the latter found increasingly difficult to cope with. In August 1967 Halliwell, by now suffering from severe depression, murdered Orton before k
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- Im going to be in Portland Oregon in mid October and want to do some shopping while Im there. All I can find online are little specialty shops that are really pricy. Im a college student so Im wanting cute, but affordable. Help!
- Im going to be in Portland Oregon in mid October and want to do some shopping while Im there. All I can find online are little specialty shops that are really pricy. Im a college student so Im wanting cute, but affordable. Help!
- Who was Joe Orton?
