The Orton Diaries: Including the Correspondence of Edna Welthorpe and Others

Orton Diaries, The by Orton, Joe; John Lahr, ed.

Orton, the bad boy of British theater (Entertaining Mr. Sloan, etc.), kept a journal during the eight months before he was murdered in 1967 by his homosexual lover at age 34. This diary reflects the playwright's nose-tweaking at the establishment and his increasing disdain for conventional morality. It also graphically records his multiple sexual adventures in and out of public lavatories. Included are comments on Crimes of Passion and What the Butler Saw, both of which he was working on during these months. Although there are some fascinating tidbits, such as his encounter with the Beatles, and witty asides (Orton calls the New Yorker "the epitaph of America"), this dreary daybook lacks the personal or artistic insights one would hope to find in it. Lahr, whose biography of Orton (Prick Up Your Ears is to be filmed, analyzes the dramatist's deteriorating relationship with his lover in an introduction. 15,000 first printing. Major ad/promo. First serial to Vanity Fair.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Playwright Orton ( Entertaining Mr. Sloan, Loot, and What the Butler Saw ) was murdered at age 34 by his live-in lover, Kenneth Halliwell, who then took his own life. Halliwell's suicide note suggested that Orton's three diaries (kept from December 1966 to just before his death in August 1967) would explain his motives. They do not. They portray a young man thoroughly absorbed with himself, his craft, and the catalog of his love life. Orton's diaries show us his ruthless and observant eye for telling detail, and an ear attuned to the absurd conversations of life. The comic vision of the diaries confirms the sources for his plays in real life. The diaries have nearly daily entries, many substantial; they have been meticulously edited and annotated by Lahr. Invaluable for studying the plays. Thomas E. Luddy, English Dept., Salem State Coll., Mass.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.