Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell were friends. For fifteen years they lived and often wrote together. They wore each other's clothes. Their wills named the other as sole beneficiary. They shared everything except success.
On August 9, 1967, Halliwell beat Orton to death, and then took twenty-two Nembutals.
The murder made headline news. In only four years Orton had become a playwright of international reputation. 'Ortonesque' was a term that had quickly been absorbed into theatrical vocabulary, as a shorthand adjective for scenes of macabre outrageousness.
Orton wrote three first-class full-length plays: Entertaining Mr Sloane, Loot and the posthumously produced What The Butler Saw: as well as four one-act plays. In his short career two films were made from his plays, and Loot was voted the Evening Standard's Best Play of 1966.
With intimate reference to Orton's private and often hilarious diaries, and to his unpublished manuscripts, John Lahr skilfully traces the career of an extraordinary and anarchic playwright, whose indecisive loyalty to a friend finally caused his tragic and untimely death.
Contains 16 pages of b/w photographs.
