Joe Orton penned spoof letters of complaint that satirised social and sexual conservatism. He wrote letters mocking snobbery and homophobia under the pseudonym ‘Mrs Edna Welthorpe’, and sent them to a variety of institutions including Smedley’s Jam, Littlewoods catalogue and the Ritz Hotel.
The search for an artist to design and produce a statue of the legendary Leicester playwright, Joe Orton
Pretty much Joe Orton’s first play – written in 1964 – this 3-hander deals comically and darkly with love, sex for sale , Catholicism, homosexuality, lies, power and loneliness.
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Leicester-born playwright Joe Orton, performance artist Tim Youd will retype his Collected Plays on a single sheet of paper starting January 20 and finishing, February 5, 2017.
Joe Orton’s final play is his masterpiece, a frenetic, surreal farce which encompasses madness, incest, nymphomania, cross dressing, male prostitution and the missing gentlemen’s parts of a statue of Winston Churchill. Dr Prentice (Brian Capron) is in the middle of seducing his secretary Geraldine (Melissa Clements) when he has a surprise inspection from Dr Rance (Michael Kirk) who holds a senior position in the government department which oversees madhouses.
Emporium, Brighton’s only professional producing theatre, is raising funds to improve its facilities to provide a better experience for audiences and performers alike. Since opening its doors in April 2013, Emporium on London Road has coped with temporary seating and kind gifts of technical equipment from supporters, but now in its second year it is looking to create a permanent space that can be used by theatre companies. A crowd-funding page has been created to raise a small amount of money for carpentry, building, plumbing, electrical work and some painting and decoration.
To mark the 50th anniversary of Leicester-born writer Joe Orton’s first stage play, his sister Leonie Orton Barnett unveiled a pot specially commissioned for the University of Leicester David Wilson Library from local ceramicist Rachel Barnett, Orton’s niece.
