Joe Orton

Joe Orton (January 1, 1933, Leicester, England - August 9, 1967, Islington, London) was a satirical modern playwright. In a short but brilliant career from 1964 until his death he shocked, outraged and amused audiences with his scandalous black comedies. Ortonesque became a recognized term for "outrageously macabre".

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He was born John Kingsley Orton in Leicester to a poor working class family and grew up on the Saffron Lane council estate with a younger brother and two sisters - Douglas, Marilyn, and Leonie.

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His parents, William and Elsie, had married in 1931, his mother worked in the local footware industry until tuberculosis cost her a lung, his father laboured for Leicester Council as a gardener. They moved into Saffron Lane in 1935. The dull, affectionless, and lacklustre existence of his parents - his small self-effacing father, the false pride, hypocrisy and prentensions of his mother - echoes in many of Orton's later works, as does his "aggressive disdain" for them.

January 1: January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Here a calendar year refers to the order in which the months are displayed, January to December. The first day of the medieval Julian year was usually a day other than January 1. This day was adopted as the f...

1933: 1933 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar)....

Leicester: Leicester (pronounced ) is a city in the English East Midlands, on the River Soar. It is the traditional county town of Leicestershire, and since 1997 has been a self-governing unitary authority. It lies on the edge of the National Forest. In 2002 the population of the city proper was estimated at ...

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