{"id":117,"date":"2014-05-06T10:36:02","date_gmt":"2014-05-06T10:36:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/specialcollections\/?p=117"},"modified":"2025-02-26T13:22:05","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T13:22:05","slug":"joe-ortons-entertaining-mr-sloane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/specialcollections\/2014\/05\/06\/joe-ortons-entertaining-mr-sloane\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Orton’s ‘Entertaining Mr Sloane’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joe Orton\u2019s Entertaining Mr Sloane<\/em> was first performed at the New Arts Theatre Club 50 years ago today. When he was asked to provide a 200-word biographical note for the programme, he responded:\u00a0 \u2018Here is the biography of Joe Orton.\u00a0 He\u2019s too dull for 200 words.\u00a0 I hope 58 is enough,\u2019 and offered the following summary:<\/p>\n

\"Letter<\/a>

Letter from Joe Orton to Michael Codron, 19 April 1964<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018Joe Orton was born in Leicester 25 years ago.\u00a0 His father is a gardener.\u00a0 He has had various jobs and long periods of idleness.\u00a0 In 1962 he received a jail sentence for larceny.\u00a0 Upon leaving prison he wrote his first play, which has since been accepted by the BBC.\u00a0 Entertaining Mr Sloane<\/em>, his second play, is the first to be performed.\u2019
\nThe producer, Michael Codron, worried that, although everything in the paragraph was fact, they might be accused of trying to shock the middle classes.\u00a0 However, he observed, \u2018One doesn\u2019t need to, the play will do that.\u2019
\nOrton\u2019s story really doesn\u2019t need any embellishment \u2013 it was a remarkable one.\u00a0 He grew up on the Saffron Lane council estate in Leicester, but moved to London at the age of 17, when he won a scholarship to RADA, \u2018closing the door on his past\u2019.\u00a0 At RADA he soon met Kenneth Halliwell, a fellow student, seven years his senior.\u00a0 In June 1951, he moved into Halliwell\u2019s NW6 flat.\u00a0 They were to live together as a couple for 16 years.\u00a0 Orton went on to become one of the most notorious authors of the 1960s, known both for his savagely satirical and scandalous black comedies and for his unconventional lifestyle.
\nAs part of the special events to mark the 50th anniversary of Entertaining Mr Sloane<\/em>, I\u2019ve been lucky enough to work on the exhibition \u2018Joe Orton in 1964\u2019, using correspondence, scripts, press cuttings and photographs from the Joe Orton Archive, which was purchased by the University in 1997.\u00a0 I knew that I wanted to use Orton\u2019s own words to describe events wherever I could (why do anything else, when his words stick in the mind so vividly) and, where that was not possible, the words of his contemporaries \u2013 and to keep any comments and explanations to a minimum.\u00a0 I deliberately began by studying the relevant material in the archive, rather than by reading the various books published on Orton\u2019s life and work (not even John Lahr\u2019s famous biography Prick Up Your Ears<\/em>, although of course I\u2019ve referred to it often).\u00a0 It was interesting to see where that approach led me.<\/p>\n

\"Photograph<\/a>

Photograph of Orton (right), aged 14, with two school-friends, 1947<\/p><\/div>\n

1964 was the year that made the working-class boy from Leicester famous.\u00a0 In May, Entertaining Mr Sloane<\/em> began its successful run in the West End.\u00a0\u00a0 In June, Orton finished writing The Good and Faithful Servant<\/em>.\u00a0 The Ruffian on the Stair<\/em> was aired on the BBC Third Programme in August. Between June and October, he wrote Loot<\/em>.\u00a0 By the end of the year, he had become a successful playwright, his work praised by many of the critics and by his peers.
\nYou can find the Special Collections display case in the basement of the David Wilson Library.\u00a0 Entry to the library is free but controlled, so if you are not a student or member of University staff, please ask to be let through the barrier.\u00a0 Details of staffed opening hours are available on the Library website.\u00a0 The exhibition runs until 31 August 2014.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joe Orton\u2019s Entertaining Mr Sloane was first performed at the New Arts Theatre Club 50 years ago today. When he was asked to provide a 200-word biographical note for the programme, he responded:\u00a0 \u2018Here is the biography of Joe Orton.\u00a0 He\u2019s too dull for 200 words.\u00a0 I hope 58 is enough,\u2019 and offered the following […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/specialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/specialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/specialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/specialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/specialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/specialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":150,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/specialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions\/150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/specialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/specialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/specialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}