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".

Early Life

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.

Related Topics:
Leicester - Working class - Council estate

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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.

Related Topics:
1931 - Tuberculosis - Leicester Council - 1935

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Condemned by his mother as 'gifted', he failed the eleven-plus after extended bouts of asthma but instead of attending a secondary modern he was poorly educated at an unsuitable commercial private school, Clark's College, from 1945 to 1947 before starting menial work as a junior clerk on £3 a week.

Related Topics:
Eleven-plus - Asthma - Secondary modern - Private school - Clark's College - 1945 - 1947 - £

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Orton became interested in performing and the theatre around 1949 and joined a number of different dramatic societies, including the prestigious Leicester Dramatic Society - although their lack of interest in his meagre talents soon led to Orton's departure, he tended to equate "the size of his ambition with his ability".

Related Topics:
Theatre - 1949 - Dramatic societies - Leicester Dramatic Society

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

While working on amateur productions he was also determined to improve his appearance and physique, buying body-building courses, taking elocution lessons, and also trying to redress his lack of education and culure.

Related Topics:
Body-building - Elocution

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He lost his job and still 'stage-struck' applied for a scholarship at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in November 1950. He was accepted, and left the Midlands for London with little regret. His entrance into RADA was delayed by appendicitis and he joined only in May 1951.

Related Topics:
Scholarship - Royal Academy of Dramatic Art - 1950 - Midlands - London - Appendicitis - 1951

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~