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The Orton Diaries
Fron December 1966 to his murder in August 1967, Joe Orton kept a series of diaries that prove to be one of the most candid and unfettered accounts of that remarkable era. They chronicle his life from his literary success to his sexual escapades.
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
About the author
Joe Orton
53 books79 followersJohn Kingsley ("Joe") Orton was an English playwright. In a short but prolific career lasting from 1964 until his death in 1967, he shocked, outraged, and amused audiences with his scandalous black comedies. The adjective Ortonesque is now used to refer to something characterised by a dark but farcical cynicism.
Joe Orton began to write plays in the early 1960s. He wrote his only novel: posthumously published as Head to Toe, in 1959, and had his writing accepted soon afterward. In 1963 the BBC paid £65 for the radio play The Ruffian on the Stair, broadcast on 31 August 1964. It was substantially rewritten for the stage in 1966.
Orton had completed Entertaining Mr. Sloane by the time Ruffian was broadcast. The play premiered on 6 May 1964 directed by Michael Codron. Reviews ranged from praise to outrage. It lost money in its 3-week run, but critical praise from playwright Terence Rattigan, who invested £3,000 in it, ensured its survival. Sloane tied for first in the Variety Critics' Poll for "Best New Play" and Orton came second for "Most Promising Playwright." Within a year, Sloane was being performed in New York, Spain, Israel and Australia, as well as being made into a film and a television play.
Orton's next work was Loot, written between June and October 1964. The play is a wild parody of detective fiction, adding the blackest farce and jabs at established ideas on death, the police, religion, and justice. It underwent sweeping rewrites before it was judged fit for the West End. Codron had manoeuvred Orton into meeting his colleague Kenneth Williams in August 1964. Orton reworked Loot with Williams in mind for Truscott. His other inspiration for the role was DS Harold Challenor. The play opened to scathing reviews. Loot moved to the West End in November 1966, raising Orton's confidence to new heights while he was in the middle of writing What the Butler Saw. Loot went on to win several awards and firmly established Orton's fame. He sold the film rights for £25,000 although he was certain it would flop. It did, but Orton, still on an absolute high, proceeded over the next ten months to revise The Ruffian on the Stair and The Erpingham Camp for the stage as a double called Crimes of Passion; wrote Funeral Games; wrote the screenplay Up Against It for the Beatles; and worked on What the Butler Saw.
The Good and Faithful Servant was a transitional work for Orton. A one-act television play completed by June 1964 but first broadcast by Associated-Rediffusion on 6 April 1967. The Erpingham Camp, Orton's take on The Bacchae, written through mid-1965 and offered to Rediffusion in October of that year, was broadcast on 27 June 1966 as the 'pride' segment in their series Seven Deadly Sins.
Orton wrote Funeral Games from July to November 1966 for a 1967 Rediffusion series, The Seven Deadly Virtues, It dealt with charity--especially Christian charity—in a confusion of adultery and murder. Rediffusion did not use the play; instead, it was made as one of the first productions of the new ITV company Yorkshire Television, and broadcast on 26 August 1968.
On 9 August 1967, Orton's lover Kenneth Halliwell bludgeoned 34-year-old Orton to death at his home in Islington, London, with a hammer and then committed suicide with an overdose of Nembutal tablets. Investigators determined that Halliwell died first, because Orton's body was still warm. Orton was cremated at the Golders Green Crematorium, his coffin brought into the chapel to The Beatles song "A Day in the Life". Harold Pinter read the eulogy saying "He was a bloody marvellous writer."
In his hometown, Leicester, a new pedestrian concourse outside the Curve theatre's main entrance is named "Orton Square." John Lahr wrote a biography of Orton entitled Prick Up Your Ears in 1978. A 1987 film adaptation directed by Stephen Frears starred Gary Oldman as Orton and Alfred Molina as Halliwell. Alan Bennett wrote the screenplay.
Joe Orton began to write plays in the early 1960s. He wrote his only novel: posthumously published as Head to Toe, in 1959, and had his writing accepted soon afterward. In 1963 the BBC paid £65 for the radio play The Ruffian on the Stair, broadcast on 31 August 1964. It was substantially rewritten for the stage in 1966.
Orton had completed Entertaining Mr. Sloane by the time Ruffian was broadcast. The play premiered on 6 May 1964 directed by Michael Codron. Reviews ranged from praise to outrage. It lost money in its 3-week run, but critical praise from playwright Terence Rattigan, who invested £3,000 in it, ensured its survival. Sloane tied for first in the Variety Critics' Poll for "Best New Play" and Orton came second for "Most Promising Playwright." Within a year, Sloane was being performed in New York, Spain, Israel and Australia, as well as being made into a film and a television play.
Orton's next work was Loot, written between June and October 1964. The play is a wild parody of detective fiction, adding the blackest farce and jabs at established ideas on death, the police, religion, and justice. It underwent sweeping rewrites before it was judged fit for the West End. Codron had manoeuvred Orton into meeting his colleague Kenneth Williams in August 1964. Orton reworked Loot with Williams in mind for Truscott. His other inspiration for the role was DS Harold Challenor. The play opened to scathing reviews. Loot moved to the West End in November 1966, raising Orton's confidence to new heights while he was in the middle of writing What the Butler Saw. Loot went on to win several awards and firmly established Orton's fame. He sold the film rights for £25,000 although he was certain it would flop. It did, but Orton, still on an absolute high, proceeded over the next ten months to revise The Ruffian on the Stair and The Erpingham Camp for the stage as a double called Crimes of Passion; wrote Funeral Games; wrote the screenplay Up Against It for the Beatles; and worked on What the Butler Saw.
The Good and Faithful Servant was a transitional work for Orton. A one-act television play completed by June 1964 but first broadcast by Associated-Rediffusion on 6 April 1967. The Erpingham Camp, Orton's take on The Bacchae, written through mid-1965 and offered to Rediffusion in October of that year, was broadcast on 27 June 1966 as the 'pride' segment in their series Seven Deadly Sins.
Orton wrote Funeral Games from July to November 1966 for a 1967 Rediffusion series, The Seven Deadly Virtues, It dealt with charity--especially Christian charity—in a confusion of adultery and murder. Rediffusion did not use the play; instead, it was made as one of the first productions of the new ITV company Yorkshire Television, and broadcast on 26 August 1968.
On 9 August 1967, Orton's lover Kenneth Halliwell bludgeoned 34-year-old Orton to death at his home in Islington, London, with a hammer and then committed suicide with an overdose of Nembutal tablets. Investigators determined that Halliwell died first, because Orton's body was still warm. Orton was cremated at the Golders Green Crematorium, his coffin brought into the chapel to The Beatles song "A Day in the Life". Harold Pinter read the eulogy saying "He was a bloody marvellous writer."
In his hometown, Leicester, a new pedestrian concourse outside the Curve theatre's main entrance is named "Orton Square." John Lahr wrote a biography of Orton entitled Prick Up Your Ears in 1978. A 1987 film adaptation directed by Stephen Frears starred Gary Oldman as Orton and Alfred Molina as Halliwell. Alan Bennett wrote the screenplay.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
September 23, 2024
”To be young, good-looking, healthy, famous, comparatively rich and happy is surely going against nature.”
I am not sure how well known Joe Orton is these days. He was a playwright who wrote some very good plays (Loot, What the Butler Saw, Entertaining Mr Sloane to name a few). His plays often had an element of farce, but they were disturbing and controversial. Orton died young at the age of 34 in 1967. He was gay and openly so. He was murdered by his partner Kenneth Halliwell, who committed suicide following the murder. Orton had been with Halliwell since he was eighteen and their relationship had been volatile.
The diaries cover the last months of Orton’s life, from late 1966 until his death in August 1967, just after homosexuality was legalised. It is a day by day account of Orton’s life encapsulating the increasing success of his plays which was leading to a certain level of financial security after years of struggle. It also charts of Halliwell and Orton were growing apart. Halliwell was feeling overshadowed and left behind and was increasingly resentful as people wanted to know Orton and not him.
Orton was not afraid to push boundaries and at that time the Lord Chamberlain was still responsible for maintaining morals at the theatre and could censor. But he pushed things as far as he was able:
"Sex is the only way to infuriate the public. Much more fucking and they'll be screaming hysterics.”
Orton was living in a London flat and mixing in theatrical and showbusiness circles. The number of names he drops reaches epic proportions! Orton was on familiar terms with many of them.
Then there is his sex life. Orton liked casual sex and describes in some detail those he picks up: mostly in public toilets. This is all very colourful and the diaries are interesting in themselves: Orton is witty and a good observer of human nature.
There is a significant but. Orton and Halliwell tended to spend periods of time in North Africa. It was Tangier in May and June 1967. Here Orton (and Halliwell to a lesser degree) spent a good deal of time picking up young boys and having various types of sexual relations with them. The youngest he records was thirteen. Most were fourteen, fifteen and sixteen. It was all rather repulsive and very illegal, but there were also a good number of other men spending time there doing the same thing. It left a very unpleasant taste and for me puts Orton alongside a number of other infamous celebrities in the UK
I am not sure how well known Joe Orton is these days. He was a playwright who wrote some very good plays (Loot, What the Butler Saw, Entertaining Mr Sloane to name a few). His plays often had an element of farce, but they were disturbing and controversial. Orton died young at the age of 34 in 1967. He was gay and openly so. He was murdered by his partner Kenneth Halliwell, who committed suicide following the murder. Orton had been with Halliwell since he was eighteen and their relationship had been volatile.
The diaries cover the last months of Orton’s life, from late 1966 until his death in August 1967, just after homosexuality was legalised. It is a day by day account of Orton’s life encapsulating the increasing success of his plays which was leading to a certain level of financial security after years of struggle. It also charts of Halliwell and Orton were growing apart. Halliwell was feeling overshadowed and left behind and was increasingly resentful as people wanted to know Orton and not him.
Orton was not afraid to push boundaries and at that time the Lord Chamberlain was still responsible for maintaining morals at the theatre and could censor. But he pushed things as far as he was able:
"Sex is the only way to infuriate the public. Much more fucking and they'll be screaming hysterics.”
Orton was living in a London flat and mixing in theatrical and showbusiness circles. The number of names he drops reaches epic proportions! Orton was on familiar terms with many of them.
Then there is his sex life. Orton liked casual sex and describes in some detail those he picks up: mostly in public toilets. This is all very colourful and the diaries are interesting in themselves: Orton is witty and a good observer of human nature.
There is a significant but. Orton and Halliwell tended to spend periods of time in North Africa. It was Tangier in May and June 1967. Here Orton (and Halliwell to a lesser degree) spent a good deal of time picking up young boys and having various types of sexual relations with them. The youngest he records was thirteen. Most were fourteen, fifteen and sixteen. It was all rather repulsive and very illegal, but there were also a good number of other men spending time there doing the same thing. It left a very unpleasant taste and for me puts Orton alongside a number of other infamous celebrities in the UK
January 23, 2013
"The trouble with Western Society today is the lack of
anything to conceal," teased Joe Orton in 1967, a short time
before receiving a deadly cosh from his jealous Signif Other.
Orton, the ultimate worldling whose plays reminded UK critics
of Ben Jonson, Shaw and an Oscar Wilde of the Welfare State,
kept a diary during the last months of his irreverent life
(d. age 34) that bursts w the upside down manners of his
ironic - classic - comedies.
Polishing his masterful chamber work, "What the Butler Saw,"
he opined: "Sex is the only way to infuriate the public.
Much more fucking and they'll be screaming hysterics--."
Like a Restoration playwright he exercises the comedy of
paradox -- w colloquial ease. US comic writers aim for the
punch-line (Neil Simon) or the put-down (Dorothy Parker).
Orton targets the mind with verbal jousts like "How dare
you involve me in a situation for which no memo has been
issued" and "Show your emotions in public or not at all."
The diary records his London life. After a trip to the barber,
he says, "My hair cut looks pretty good. It appears to be
quite natural whilst in actual fact being artificial. Which
is a philosophy I approve of."
Overheard conversation between two ladies on a bus: "There's
a lot of blue about lately." The other replies, "Yes, and
there's a lot of green about too." After buying a china pig
as a gift for his TV producer, he reports that the clerk "packed
it in a cardboard box that originally held three Bronco toilet
rolls. A more sensible present in many ways."
Forays with the Beatles are here, along with comments about
Olivier as "Othello" ("his costumes were just fashionable
beach wear"), and Vanessa Redgrave and her father ("he must have been bisexual or she wouldn't be alive today.") There's plenty of forthright sex. A doctor, he reports, keeps his house stocked
with lads, each with a task, including a boy responsible for the
goldfish. Finger wag : "Now, Dennis, you've neglected to feed
the fish. What is your excuse?" "Well, you see, I had the trade
in and I forgot." "You've no right to have the trade in until
you've fed the goldfish."
The Orton charm is YouTube visible in an Eamonn Andrews TVer just before he died. In life, in theatre, in his diary -- too much is never enough for the wondrous Joe Orton horseplay, except when it was.
anything to conceal," teased Joe Orton in 1967, a short time
before receiving a deadly cosh from his jealous Signif Other.
Orton, the ultimate worldling whose plays reminded UK critics
of Ben Jonson, Shaw and an Oscar Wilde of the Welfare State,
kept a diary during the last months of his irreverent life
(d. age 34) that bursts w the upside down manners of his
ironic - classic - comedies.
Polishing his masterful chamber work, "What the Butler Saw,"
he opined: "Sex is the only way to infuriate the public.
Much more fucking and they'll be screaming hysterics--."
Like a Restoration playwright he exercises the comedy of
paradox -- w colloquial ease. US comic writers aim for the
punch-line (Neil Simon) or the put-down (Dorothy Parker).
Orton targets the mind with verbal jousts like "How dare
you involve me in a situation for which no memo has been
issued" and "Show your emotions in public or not at all."
The diary records his London life. After a trip to the barber,
he says, "My hair cut looks pretty good. It appears to be
quite natural whilst in actual fact being artificial. Which
is a philosophy I approve of."
Overheard conversation between two ladies on a bus: "There's
a lot of blue about lately." The other replies, "Yes, and
there's a lot of green about too." After buying a china pig
as a gift for his TV producer, he reports that the clerk "packed
it in a cardboard box that originally held three Bronco toilet
rolls. A more sensible present in many ways."
Forays with the Beatles are here, along with comments about
Olivier as "Othello" ("his costumes were just fashionable
beach wear"), and Vanessa Redgrave and her father ("he must have been bisexual or she wouldn't be alive today.") There's plenty of forthright sex. A doctor, he reports, keeps his house stocked
with lads, each with a task, including a boy responsible for the
goldfish. Finger wag : "Now, Dennis, you've neglected to feed
the fish. What is your excuse?" "Well, you see, I had the trade
in and I forgot." "You've no right to have the trade in until
you've fed the goldfish."
The Orton charm is YouTube visible in an Eamonn Andrews TVer just before he died. In life, in theatre, in his diary -- too much is never enough for the wondrous Joe Orton horseplay, except when it was.
July 23, 2011
Boy oh boy. It's kind of a one-sided view of an increasingly unhealthy relationship. If you can even call it a view, as Orton, charming and witty as he seems, was too self-centred to really see his relationship. I'm not sure how long he could have gone on, denying his own need for and others' need for love. He would have crashed and burned with his own nihilistic hedonism at some point (perhaps when his career was turning down?). You get the sense about a third of the way through the diaries that he's just writing them for future publication. Little did he know the circumstances under which they would be. Also, the introduction by John Lahr is great, as well as his very useful footnotes sometimes drawing on his biographical research on Orton. I'll have to read Prick Up Your Ears too.
April 2, 2016
I was only just sixteen when I bought this book. I had to hide it from my parents because it was "subversive". One of my friends recommended it to me. It was definitely not your normal material for a sixteen year old. I loved it. It was so different and raw from the happy go lucky books all around me. The stories were so different than what was required in school. I still look back on Joe Orton and this book with fondness. The writing is of a caliber I rarely encounter anymore. Then again, I couldn't read 500 of these type of books every year. I'd be weighed down and slit my wrists.
Recommended for those who enjoy something different than the usual.
Recommended for those who enjoy something different than the usual.
May 29, 2014
I'm so ambivalent on this book. It is Joe Orton's diary, annotated with letters and pertinent quotes from friends and family. As a diary, there is a fair amount of the mundane -- which is rather enjoyable. Joe was a brilliant, creative, cutting-edge playwright who was just coming into his own when he was killed violently by his long-time partner. Throughout the diary, you witness Joe Orton's ability to present characters, fully developed in very few lines. That is fascinating and worthy of more stars than I can give this book. His creation of Dame Edna who writes scathing reviews in letters-to-the-editors of Joe's plays (among other things) is hilarious. His humor is dark and unconventional and still fresh. His assessments of American society were amazingly still apt all these decades later. And then, he goes to Tangiers. Why were the Tangier diaries included? The editor added some excuse that fell flat. At one moment I had to ask, "Was he really a pedophile or was he trying to shock the public?" Afterall, he wrote the diaries with the intent of publishing them. He enjoyed scandalizing society with unconventionality. In the end, I decided the Tangier diaries weren't fantasy, but an accounting of months of seeking and attaining the sexual services of children. For this reason, I rate this book low. It isn't scandalous, it's horrifying. It was horrifying to read his sexualization of a five year old boy. When the book ended, I was left wondering if perhaps Kenneth Halliwell hadn't saved London from an eventual predator. Joe's narcissism was obvious in his diaries. His fame, skyrocketing. I could see him writing plays with the intent of filling them with boys for him to "interfere with" (his words.) That never happened, but the Tangier diaries making at least one third of this book are proof enough of his pedophilia (not to mention he embraces and announces his pedophilia as one would announce their preference of mohair over tweed.)
July 9, 2008
Generally I love reading people's journels or diaries, and Joe Orton wrote a diary that is a masterpiece. It captures London theater culture as well as pop culture of that period and time - meaning the 60's. Also an incredible inside look in Gay culture as well. North London's great poet of the stage. Orton rules.
Also I want to add that i am reading the Kenneth Williams Diaries, and Ken was a close friend of Orton. So both books are a must if one is interested in what London Gay/theater culture was like in the 1960's. Both books are pretty amazing.
Also the Edna Welthorpe letters are correspondence sent to various newspapers in the UK attacking Joe Orton and his work. And of course, Welthorpe was Joe Orton!
Also I want to add that i am reading the Kenneth Williams Diaries, and Ken was a close friend of Orton. So both books are a must if one is interested in what London Gay/theater culture was like in the 1960's. Both books are pretty amazing.
Also the Edna Welthorpe letters are correspondence sent to various newspapers in the UK attacking Joe Orton and his work. And of course, Welthorpe was Joe Orton!
December 12, 2010
I've read this three times over the years. As well as it being one of the most honest Diaries I have ever read, it's also a great snapshot of the time and place - Swinging London in the mid-60's. Be warned though - it is not for the faint hearted. Orton was gay, proud and promiscuous and this diary does not hide that.
Read
October 16, 2008the most interesting last six months of anyone's life.
August 14, 2017
Tengo el dudoso honor de pertenecer a la exclusiva élite de Goodreads que no ha disfrutado de la lectura los diarios de este dramaturgo, el Oscar Wilde del Swinging London, como dijo alguien. O quizá haya sido yo la artífice de la coletilla, no sé. Al tema. Como no he leído ninguna de sus comedias (algo tradujimos en la carrera, de ahí que me sonara ligeramente el nombre) no puedo contradecir a los que alaban su talento. Pero sí me sorprende que su encanto personal, simpatía e ingenio brillen por su ausencia en las casi trescientas páginas en las que detalla cual entomólogo, con mucha frialdad y cierta indiferencia, sus numerosas y variopintas aventuras sexuales, y... Y realmente poco más. Nadie parece caerle del todo bien a Joe Orton. Cuanto no tiene relación directa con su vida o el éxito de sus obras se la trae floja. La muerte de su madre, su familia y sus amigos, incluido su amante que se suicidó después de machacarle los sesos, no le preocupan mucho. Extraño tipo. A pesar de su egocentrismo manifiesto no resulta del todo repelente.
Los únicos fragmentos humorísticos del libro pertenecen a las cartas enviadas bajo diferentes pseudónimos para indordiar al personal; son muy divertidas. Incluso ponía a parir sus propias obras en diversos periódicos. Habrá que leerse sus comedias, porque en sus diarios, del wildean wit que lo hiciera tan célebre, ni rastro.
De él dijo un amigo suyo tras su muerte: "No tenía corazón, pero me gustaba lo que había en su lugar". Pues chico, a mí ni eso.
Los únicos fragmentos humorísticos del libro pertenecen a las cartas enviadas bajo diferentes pseudónimos para indordiar al personal; son muy divertidas. Incluso ponía a parir sus propias obras en diversos periódicos. Habrá que leerse sus comedias, porque en sus diarios, del wildean wit que lo hiciera tan célebre, ni rastro.
De él dijo un amigo suyo tras su muerte: "No tenía corazón, pero me gustaba lo que había en su lugar". Pues chico, a mí ni eso.
March 22, 2017
Well i had wanted to read this book for ages!
I have had a long ongoing and slightly macabre obsession with the Joe Orton story.... so tragic was it.
He was an indisputable talent, risen from a humble background, and his work is revered the world over.
His untimely and maybe ultimately unavoidable death, aged just 34, at the hands of his long term lover, Ken Halliwell, was unbelievably sad.... and the majority of his fame came posthumously.
Reading this felt intrusive but very fascinating, and was something completely different from the normal genres that i read.
A definite recommendation if you fancy something different.
I have had a long ongoing and slightly macabre obsession with the Joe Orton story.... so tragic was it.
He was an indisputable talent, risen from a humble background, and his work is revered the world over.
His untimely and maybe ultimately unavoidable death, aged just 34, at the hands of his long term lover, Ken Halliwell, was unbelievably sad.... and the majority of his fame came posthumously.
Reading this felt intrusive but very fascinating, and was something completely different from the normal genres that i read.
A definite recommendation if you fancy something different.
October 13, 2010
En ocasiones, separar autor literario de persona humana resulta una tarea ardua y difícil para los lectores que, como yo, están más habituados a la ficción que a la no ficción. Está claro que en todos, más tarde o más temprano, brota una curiosidad tomatera por saber más sobre ese escritor que consigue que nos reflejemos en sus páginas… Y una buena solución para estos casos, más que las biografías no autorizadas, son los diarios. Pero, atención: ¡peligro! Como cuando echas una mirada a hurtadillas al diario de tu novia, puede que lo que encuentres no te vaya a gustar ni un pelo. En el caso de Joe Orton, digámoslo desde el principio, su diario retrata a un tipo déspota, egocéntrico, prepotente, hedonista irresponsable y con unos delirios de grandeza galopantes en los que lo único que le faltaba era dejarse crecer un bigote en punta, decirle a la gente que nació en Stratford-upon-Avon y que su middle name era William. Así de grande era el concepto de sí mismo que tenía este bardo teatral que, con obras “Loot” o “Entertaining Mr. Sloane”, se convirtió en la punta de lanza de una nueva escena cultural gay sin complejos ni armarios.
Más vale separar: por un lado están los logros de Orton (que no son pocos) y, por otro, su calidad humana. Todos quedan reflejados en estos “Diarios” (deliciosamente publicados por Cabaret Voltaire, como es habitual en esta editorial). En el episodio de los éxitos, no sólo hay que adjudicársele un papel determinante en la renovación de un teatro británico anquilosado por la vía del electroshock: sus obras, supurantes de un surrealismo macabro e irónico, supusieron una bofetada sonora y necesaria a las convenciones inflexibles del teatro victoriano. Y, más allá de sus creaciones sobre las tablas, Orton prefirió no convertirse en una figura pública determinante en ningún tipo de movimiento contestatario a favor de los derechos homosexuales. Él estaba más allá de la “aceptación” y vivía plenamente anclado en la “normalidad”, una actitud (probablemente) más efectiva que las pataletas públicas y los desfiles vergonzosos… La calidad humana del artista, sin embargo, era harina de otro costal. Puede que la biografía de Orton (inmortalizada en el film “Ábrete de Orejas” (1987), de Stephen Frears), sea célebre por su abrupto final: el autor fue asesinado por su pareja, Kenneth Halliwell, quien se suicidó poco después del homicidio. La relación entre Orton y Halliwell, sin embargo, tiene una chicha que en estos “Diarios” se amplía con un nuevo fondo sombrío y ambiguo: por momentos, bien podría decirse que entiendes la pulsión homicida de Halliwell, ya que Orton le trata con un desdén y un despotismo sorprendente si se tiene en cuenta que la deuda del autor con su pareja era grande (en materia literaria, Orton aprendió todo de Halliwell… hasta que “mató al padre” y le superó por goleada). La pareja estaba marcada por el profundo signo de una mezcla de egos heridos, relaciones paterno-filiales mal resultas, actitudes agresivo-pasivas y un sado-masoquismo en el que el dolor acabó estableciéndose como el eje sobre el que giraba su convivencia.
Pero, tal y como se apunta más arriba, una vez separados ambos conceptos hay que estar dispuesto a disfrutar con unos “Diarios” sinceros y mortíferos como una ráfaga da metralla en medio de una batalla particularmente apática. Los principales logros de la prosa de Joe Orton se centran en el retrato de la élite teatral y cultural de la Gran Bretaña de finales de los 60 (de hecho, el autor a punto estuvo de colarles a The Beatles un guión repleto de ambigüedades), la descripción a pecho descubierto de la vida de un “marica de wc público” (con detalles escabrosos sobre sus encuentros sexuales en lugares macabros) y, sobre todo, un par de incursiones en el fascinante mundo musulmán que recuerda a Gide en su fascinación por los efebos árabes (aunque, en el caso de Orton, la fascinación se concreta en todo un conjunto de prácticas descritas hasta la saciedad que pueden herir ciertas sensibilidades políticamente correctas). Y por mucho que quien firma prefiera el lirismo encubridor de la ficción de Gide, es inevitable dejarse fascinar por las vivencias “a pelo” de Joe Orton. Puede que él fuera un cabronazo de tomo y lomo. Pero… ¡cómo fascinan las vidas de los cabronazos!
Más vale separar: por un lado están los logros de Orton (que no son pocos) y, por otro, su calidad humana. Todos quedan reflejados en estos “Diarios” (deliciosamente publicados por Cabaret Voltaire, como es habitual en esta editorial). En el episodio de los éxitos, no sólo hay que adjudicársele un papel determinante en la renovación de un teatro británico anquilosado por la vía del electroshock: sus obras, supurantes de un surrealismo macabro e irónico, supusieron una bofetada sonora y necesaria a las convenciones inflexibles del teatro victoriano. Y, más allá de sus creaciones sobre las tablas, Orton prefirió no convertirse en una figura pública determinante en ningún tipo de movimiento contestatario a favor de los derechos homosexuales. Él estaba más allá de la “aceptación” y vivía plenamente anclado en la “normalidad”, una actitud (probablemente) más efectiva que las pataletas públicas y los desfiles vergonzosos… La calidad humana del artista, sin embargo, era harina de otro costal. Puede que la biografía de Orton (inmortalizada en el film “Ábrete de Orejas” (1987), de Stephen Frears), sea célebre por su abrupto final: el autor fue asesinado por su pareja, Kenneth Halliwell, quien se suicidó poco después del homicidio. La relación entre Orton y Halliwell, sin embargo, tiene una chicha que en estos “Diarios” se amplía con un nuevo fondo sombrío y ambiguo: por momentos, bien podría decirse que entiendes la pulsión homicida de Halliwell, ya que Orton le trata con un desdén y un despotismo sorprendente si se tiene en cuenta que la deuda del autor con su pareja era grande (en materia literaria, Orton aprendió todo de Halliwell… hasta que “mató al padre” y le superó por goleada). La pareja estaba marcada por el profundo signo de una mezcla de egos heridos, relaciones paterno-filiales mal resultas, actitudes agresivo-pasivas y un sado-masoquismo en el que el dolor acabó estableciéndose como el eje sobre el que giraba su convivencia.
Pero, tal y como se apunta más arriba, una vez separados ambos conceptos hay que estar dispuesto a disfrutar con unos “Diarios” sinceros y mortíferos como una ráfaga da metralla en medio de una batalla particularmente apática. Los principales logros de la prosa de Joe Orton se centran en el retrato de la élite teatral y cultural de la Gran Bretaña de finales de los 60 (de hecho, el autor a punto estuvo de colarles a The Beatles un guión repleto de ambigüedades), la descripción a pecho descubierto de la vida de un “marica de wc público” (con detalles escabrosos sobre sus encuentros sexuales en lugares macabros) y, sobre todo, un par de incursiones en el fascinante mundo musulmán que recuerda a Gide en su fascinación por los efebos árabes (aunque, en el caso de Orton, la fascinación se concreta en todo un conjunto de prácticas descritas hasta la saciedad que pueden herir ciertas sensibilidades políticamente correctas). Y por mucho que quien firma prefiera el lirismo encubridor de la ficción de Gide, es inevitable dejarse fascinar por las vivencias “a pelo” de Joe Orton. Puede que él fuera un cabronazo de tomo y lomo. Pero… ¡cómo fascinan las vidas de los cabronazos!
July 12, 2009
Joe Orton's diaries (in 3 parts) ultimately bring about a feeling of embarrassment for a certain circle of 'my people'. I don't particularly want to moralize about Orton's promiscuity - which, in tandem with his burgeoning fame, led to his brutal murder by the "non-entity" who mentored and lived with him for years. In fact, as slavishly documented (esp.) in the second section (written in Tangier), sexual activity of the insatiable reads as tedious. (It's 'interesting' to read Orton claim that his best sexual encounters were with people he didn't particularly like, and that intimacy was more difficult when genuine affection entered.)
Orton wrote some very funny plays rooted in amorality. Could they have been written by a man who was not amoral himself? I suppose that's doubtful. Which makes for quite a dichotomy: a genuinely witty and insightful playwright who was nevertheless almost completely self-serving and increasingly egomaniacal. A walking dilemma.
Orton's last play, 'What The Butler Saw' - completed just days before his death - may very well have been the funniest farcical and slickly commercial play of its time. (I saw the first NYC production, which was sensational, and a revival in NYC not that long ago, which was abysmal.) A huge question mark remains re: how Orton's work would have developed: if the man himself had developed, would his work have 'suffered'?
I was curious to fill in the blanks of Orton's life that were not covered by the film 'Prick Up Your Ears'. The diaries appear to give 'blank' new meaning.
Orton wrote some very funny plays rooted in amorality. Could they have been written by a man who was not amoral himself? I suppose that's doubtful. Which makes for quite a dichotomy: a genuinely witty and insightful playwright who was nevertheless almost completely self-serving and increasingly egomaniacal. A walking dilemma.
Orton's last play, 'What The Butler Saw' - completed just days before his death - may very well have been the funniest farcical and slickly commercial play of its time. (I saw the first NYC production, which was sensational, and a revival in NYC not that long ago, which was abysmal.) A huge question mark remains re: how Orton's work would have developed: if the man himself had developed, would his work have 'suffered'?
I was curious to fill in the blanks of Orton's life that were not covered by the film 'Prick Up Your Ears'. The diaries appear to give 'blank' new meaning.
May 31, 2021
An unintentional work of psychological horror. You start this diary knowing the author, a young newly famous playwright, was murdered days after the final entry by his jealous, neglected, unstable partner. A study in how brilliance is never one person, and the cult of genius can erase all the hard work of the supporting people. Some see the diary as a window into 1960s gay sexual culture, which is true I guess, in the ugliest of ways. Orton fucks 13 year-old North African sex workers. Once I accepted that I hate these people, I started to find some enjoyment reading it forensically. The partner's anger and instability slowly reveals itself, plus numerous footnotes contain others' observations of the couple's toxic energy at parties. About a hundred pages' worth could be weeded out, but my friend says that's a ridic thing to say about a diary. Readers find Orton's humor and opinions interesting, but for me there was a tiring overall affect of judgment, cynicism, and isolation that did not contrast with the impending murder. I could sometimes relate to the author's unconscious feeling like he's owed something because he grew up in a homophobic world. I hadn't heard of Joe Orton, haven't seen or read his plays, which are apparently very good, and maybe that's part of appreciating the humor here.
May 22, 2011
Taking a break from Yukio Mishima to read about a Joe Orton; young, gay writer who likes to think he's the epitome of butch and comes to a bloody end.
Orton's diaries are enjoyable, although I wish he'd stop having sex with Moroccan children. In fact, the Tangiers bit does get repetitive. All that moaning about the char.
Joe and Kenneth were very horrible about their weekend at Oscar Lewenstein's. It must have made for very embarrassing reading.
"Saw Peter Gill. Had a v. pleasant lunch. He's going to Canada. How awful for him."
Orton's diaries are enjoyable, although I wish he'd stop having sex with Moroccan children. In fact, the Tangiers bit does get repetitive. All that moaning about the char.
Joe and Kenneth were very horrible about their weekend at Oscar Lewenstein's. It must have made for very embarrassing reading.
"Saw Peter Gill. Had a v. pleasant lunch. He's going to Canada. How awful for him."
August 2, 2011
This books is not for everyone. Joe Orton lived a wild, mad life, full of sex and violence, and it informed his plays. He is deliciously irreverent.
That being said, you may find that you get completely absorbed in his daily comings-and-goings, put the book down, go about your business, and think, "What was that that just made complete sense to me?"
Read this for a wild ride.
That being said, you may find that you get completely absorbed in his daily comings-and-goings, put the book down, go about your business, and think, "What was that that just made complete sense to me?"
Read this for a wild ride.
February 14, 2012
These diaries did not make for pleasant reading. Joe Orton was a pedo, arrogant, conceited, racist and nasty. It's been noted countless times that a lot of the great artists of our time were messed up in some way. I guess in future I just need to keep partaking of their works but refrain from reading about their personal lives.
February 19, 2011
There are flashes of great insight and the diaries are often laugh out loud funny. Orton is quite at ease with himself and I found this very appealing at first but as things progress it began to trouble me. It troubles me now, too much apparently to give this a proper review.
February 10, 2011
I read this as a teenager mostly because it was naughty!
January 6, 2015
An absolute riot. Nearly lost bladder control while reading some of the episodes featuring Kenneth Williams. Unalloyed joy.
March 3, 2019
This book captures a vivid flash of 1960s London and its culture. It seems like Orton was a bit of a shit, but I can't help but be captivated by his diaries.
January 15, 2018
This diary is a record by Joe Orton of the days leading up to his death at the hands of long time lover Kenneth Halliwell. It is brutally honest, sexually graphic, shocking and uncomfortable to read at times but is also a rivetting record of the two men's relationship and their social and private lives. It was written by Orton with a view to publication. Knowing this means allowing for some self aggrandizing however Orton died before he had a chance to edit it, though he may have edited as he went along. Either way it is a fascinating record. Kenneth Halliwell, according to the background material provided, would have had access to it. The diary, how it was written and why adds an extra element of both information about the relationship, and questions as to how it affected them both - or if it did at all given the writing relationship between the two men was so close that sharing the reading and writing of it would not be impossible to imagine. Kenneth Halliwell contributed substantially to Joe Ortons development as a writer - they met when Orton was 17 and Halliwell was 25 - Halliwell was over 40 when he murdered Orton so he may also have had some influence on its shape. This is not stated however, mere conjecture on my part. There are many comments and opinions by friends and fellow artists and most of them are negative re Halliwell. He emerges however as a hauntingly lonely and tragic figure, and Orton as someone oblivious to the pain his lover was suffering and his, Orton's, own contribution to it. Sexual activity dominates, within the relationship and with others, but that was a truth of their lives so informs about both of them as individuals and as lovers rather than there for shock value. Ultimately a very sad book but written well enough that even though I knew how it ended I found it very readable, a little uncomfortable at times but ultimately fascinating.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 21, 2024
Stephen Frears' Prick Up Your Ears is one of my favorite films of the '80s. Not only was it unapologetically queer, but I appreciated how it shadowed Joe and Ken's unequal relationship w/ that of biographer John Lahr and his wife, Althea. This has been on the TBR pile for years, but Corey Fah Does Social Mobility convinced me to grab a copy.
The sex in Tangiers gets tedious and you don't come away liking Mr. Orton very much, but it's also, in an age of scoldy literary pile-ons, refreshing to inhabit the perspective of a cranky, judgemental, morally flawed gay man. Orton lived in a world where he was free to be an asshole, and thereby free to think for himself (and with plenty of time in which to do it). There's a lot of waiting in this book, for letters and phone calls or the latest physical media, along with a lot of sitting around doing not very much-- a few bouts of hate watching Doctor Who thrown in. But because of this, the only navel gazing Orton does is with other people's navels. He's drawn by other people, even if he doesn't seem to like very many of them, and the sketches he provides are worth the whole book.
The sex in Tangiers gets tedious and you don't come away liking Mr. Orton very much, but it's also, in an age of scoldy literary pile-ons, refreshing to inhabit the perspective of a cranky, judgemental, morally flawed gay man. Orton lived in a world where he was free to be an asshole, and thereby free to think for himself (and with plenty of time in which to do it). There's a lot of waiting in this book, for letters and phone calls or the latest physical media, along with a lot of sitting around doing not very much-- a few bouts of hate watching Doctor Who thrown in. But because of this, the only navel gazing Orton does is with other people's navels. He's drawn by other people, even if he doesn't seem to like very many of them, and the sketches he provides are worth the whole book.
December 27, 2021
A diary collection that's witty, observant, packed full of behind-the-literary-scenes 1960s London action, and also extremely cruel. There's Orton's writing a screenplay for the Beatles, the overseeing production and casting of his plays, and his suffering (and mockery of) many critics. On the other hand, it's every homophobe's dream testimony against homosexuals; a graphic, stunning display of sexual gluttony that checks all the boxes and some new ones. A 2-month visit to Tangiers justifies "keeping those people away from our children" more than 100 Anita Bryant rallies put together. Orton's escapades will haunt even the shiniest of liberals and their embracing of free love, not to mention the author's misogyny is toxic.
May 15, 2024
The diaries of Joe Orton probably have more capacity to shock in the twenty-first century than any of his drama. His language is vivid, his life colourful, his plays are shocking to his contemporaries, and there's an extended sequence in Tangier during which he has sex with fifteen year-old boys.
It's a document of acceptable behaviours, of transgression, and of permissibility. It's also, famously, an unmistakable if accidental chronicle of the collapse of his relationship with Kenneth Halliwell, a man whose erratic behaviour lingers in the margin and looms to the foreground with a sickening jolt. Orton's narcissism leers, a man who cannot accept that other people need things from him swims into view. The diary's effect to appal is of course entirely deliberate, and it's meant to appal Kenneth.
A diary of wit, of style, and of various horrors.
It's a document of acceptable behaviours, of transgression, and of permissibility. It's also, famously, an unmistakable if accidental chronicle of the collapse of his relationship with Kenneth Halliwell, a man whose erratic behaviour lingers in the margin and looms to the foreground with a sickening jolt. Orton's narcissism leers, a man who cannot accept that other people need things from him swims into view. The diary's effect to appal is of course entirely deliberate, and it's meant to appal Kenneth.
A diary of wit, of style, and of various horrors.
June 19, 2022
I love Joe Orton and his work and I’m so glad these diaries are published and available to be read.
However, since I discovered about victim narcissism it made my reading of this book diminished somewhat. It’s so sad that Joe found himself in the clutches of a monster like Halliwell.
Halliwell was a very dangerous person and reading his exchanges with Orton and anyone else in his life in these diaries was a complete drain to me. There were times I had to put the book down because of it.
Great to read the passages involving Kenneth Williams though. He more than made up for the vile Halliwell.
However, since I discovered about victim narcissism it made my reading of this book diminished somewhat. It’s so sad that Joe found himself in the clutches of a monster like Halliwell.
Halliwell was a very dangerous person and reading his exchanges with Orton and anyone else in his life in these diaries was a complete drain to me. There were times I had to put the book down because of it.
Great to read the passages involving Kenneth Williams though. He more than made up for the vile Halliwell.
December 13, 2017
This account is irreverent, caustic and, at times, quite hilarious. Every detail is there, from the confines of the small London flat to the freedom of Tangier. Exasperating though it is, we will never know the contents of Joe’s final diary entries. What happened to them? It’s a mystery.
We do know that Kenneth envied Joe’s success and couldn’t understand why his own talent went unrecognised. His feeling of rejection, his social and sexual inadequacies and the accompanying downward spiral of depression was too much for him to handle. His long relationship with Joe was deteriorating and, unable to cope any longer, he had to end it all. Of course, he could not leave Joe behind.
We do know that Kenneth envied Joe’s success and couldn’t understand why his own talent went unrecognised. His feeling of rejection, his social and sexual inadequacies and the accompanying downward spiral of depression was too much for him to handle. His long relationship with Joe was deteriorating and, unable to cope any longer, he had to end it all. Of course, he could not leave Joe behind.
December 18, 2022
La verdad es que después de leer sus diarios sí que queda explicado por qué Kenneth se lo cargó a martillazos (a mi personalmente me han entrado ganas de pegarle un puñetazo o dos)
Era realmente insoportable, egocéntrico y encima tenía gustos por chicos menores e incluso niños. Me ha costado mucho leer ciertas partes de su tiempo en Tánger porque la verdad que es bastante desagradable.
Creo que lo más interesante es ver la relación que tenía con otras personas relevantes de los 60 en Londres y ver como va decayendo su relación con Kenneth a medida que encuentra más éxito.
Era realmente insoportable, egocéntrico y encima tenía gustos por chicos menores e incluso niños. Me ha costado mucho leer ciertas partes de su tiempo en Tánger porque la verdad que es bastante desagradable.
Creo que lo más interesante es ver la relación que tenía con otras personas relevantes de los 60 en Londres y ver como va decayendo su relación con Kenneth a medida que encuentra más éxito.
October 12, 2023
Reading the diaries of my favourite British playwright was not a pleasant experience. Orton's ego was a big one. He was a selfish pervert along with being an obnoxious bully. So then, whilst I can't fault his genius at being such a talented writer of darkly comic drama, as a person though he simply isn't very likeable. His day to day life in London during the mid 60s with his lover - and eventual murderer - Kenneth Halliwell was interesting to begin with but turned rather repetitive. The highlight for me being his time spent in North Africa.
April 5, 2024
Err I have no idea how I ended up with a copy of this but I probably read it because it's about a period I find fascinating, 1960s London, and that Orton met some of the Beatles and the Easybeats. It's quite spooky that his diary ends shortly before his partner killed him and his final brief diary entry is about the very person who would bludgeon him to death a week later. Other than Orton meeting a few of my 60s music heroes it wasn't hugely interesting but I'm probably not the target reader and being a diary maybe no one was really meant to read it.
August 3, 2020
Entertaining, bitchy, slightly prophetic, in hindsight of course, of the brutal death and destruction to come, the murder of playwright Joe Orton by his lover Kenneth Halliwell and Halliwell's suicide directly after. My rating is likely as high as it is due to my familiarity with and admiration of Orton's plays. All that said, The Orton Diaries as well as bio Prick Up Your Ears and play, Diary of A Somebody both by John Lahr are amazing as well.
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