Joe Orton

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Joe Orton

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Joe Orton 1933-67, English playwright, b. John Kingsley. After studying acting, he wrote farcical comedies noted for their cynical humor. His plays include The Ruffian on the Stair (1963), Entertaining Mr. Sloan (1964), Loot (1966), and What the Butler Saw (1969). He was murdered by his lover, Kenneth Halliwell, who then committed suicide.

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Orton, Joe

World Encyclopedia | 2005 | © World Encyclopedia 2005, originally published by Oxford University Press 2005. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Orton, Joe ( John Kingsley) (1933–67) English playwright who specialized in black satirical comedies. Entertaining Mr Sloane and Loot were staged in London in 1964 and 1965 respectively. What the Butler Saw was produced posthumously (1969) after Orton's murder by his lover, Kenneth Halliwell.

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Joe Orton's London, today. (Essay).
Magazine article from: The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide; 5/1/2002; ; 700+ words ; ...undergraduate English professor described the works of Joe Orton in a literary comedy class I once took. Orton...filled dance clubs might once have premiered Joe Orton's plays. My search for Joe Orton's London took me on a pilgrimage to the Islington...
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Magazine article from: The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide; 5/1/2007; ; 700+ words ; HE WAS NO ORDINARY JOE: during his short but meteoric career...baddest queer of the postwar British stage, Joe Orton (1933-1967) was getting it both ways...without actually speaking the unspeakable, Orton's renegade comedies explicitly poked...
Why I blame myself for murder of Joe Orton; It was a Sixties cause celebre - the blud Now, with his best-known work revive dgeoning of an outrageous playwright by his gay lover. ed in the West End, comes this startling confession...(News)
Newspaper article from: The Daily Mail (London, England); 4/16/2009; 700+ words ; ...burnt candle', was the body of Joe Orton, the 34-year-old playwright...to see it. The life and death of Joe Orton, and his startlingly autobiographical...film and theatre critic, first met Joe Orton, whose fourth play, Loot, was...
COMIC COLLISIONS WITH REVIVAL OF `BUTLER,' JOE ORTON'S DARK HUMOR IS BROUGHT TO LIGHT
Newspaper article from: The Boston Globe; 3/5/2004; ; 700+ words ; ...the comic timing of this scene in Joe Orton's "What the Butler Saw," in...production, is considered among Orton's best plays. "Dramatically...reminds us of what we forget about Joe Orton: that he was self-educated relatively...
Why I blame myself for the murder of Joe Orton; It was a Sixties cause celebre- the bludgeoning of an outrageous playwright byhis gay lover. Now,with his best-known work revived in the West End, comes this startling confession ...(News)
Newspaper article from: The Daily Mail (London, England); 4/4/2009; 700+ words ; ...burnt candle', was the body of Joe Orton, the 34-year-old playwright...to see it. The life and death of Joe Orton, and his startlingly autobiographical...film and theatre critic, first met Joe Orton, whose fourth play, Loot, was...
JOE ORTON'S LAST NOVEL: SATIRE WITHOUT SUBJECT
Newspaper article from: The Boston Globe; 10/15/1987; ; 700+ words ; HEAD TO TOE, by Joe Orton. St. Martin's. 187 pp. $13.95. The most interesting part of Joe Orton's life is the part we will never know...writing things like "Head to Toe," Joe Orton learned how to make irrefutable words...
A treasure The late Joe Orton's fine, literary wit makes 'Loot' worth the hunt.(Time Out!)
Newspaper article from: Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL); 5/12/2000; ; 700+ words ; ...Saturday Box office: (847) 835-5398 Joe Orton is one of the great lost playwrights...when he was barely 34 years old, Orton had already a handful of plays that...comedies are still funny and bracing. Orton loved to shock people. He loved to...
Joe Orton's `Butler' packs farce with emotional force
Newspaper article from: Chicago Sun-Times; 2/1/1991; ; 700+ words ; The playwright Joe Orton loathed the conventional. Before his...original prankster, Till Eulenspiegel, Orton died a young man. "What the Butler Saw...into meanings all its own," summarized Orton's biographer, John Lahr. The playwright...
Joe Orton.(Brief Article)
Magazine article from: World Literature Today; 6/22/1996; ; 654 words ; ...killed by his companion in 1967), Joe Orton has achieved a status that is rare...them, but never abandoning them. If Orton seems an exponent of the well-made...see the dichotomies within. While Orton can mock the complacent who are easily...
A madcap `Butler' turns into a misadventure; THEATER REVIEW: Joe Orton's stinging satire disappears in the extreme farce on display in the Burning House Group's production of "What the Butler Saw.".(NEWS)
Newspaper article from: Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN); 5/16/2007; ; 700+ words ; ...There's been a bit of a run on Joe Orton plays in the Twin Cities in the past...harpoons. Where in this show is Orton the working-class playwright...7977 WHAT THE BUTLER SAW Who: By Joe Orton. Directed by David Allen Baker Jr...

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