Joe Orton author page

Joe Orton biography

Joe Orton was the pen name of John Kingsley Orton, a British playwright and author whose provocative comedies became landmarks in mid-20th-century theatre. He was born in Leicester in 1933.

Orton studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where he met Kenneth Halliwell, who became his partner and long-term collaborator.

Before gaining public recognition as a dramatist, Orton and Halliwell wrote several unpublished novels together. In 1962, they were convicted for defacing library books—altering covers and blurbs before returning them to shelves—and sentenced to six months in prison.

Orton’s dramatic breakthrough began with his radio play The Ruffian on the Stair in 1964. That same year saw the premiere of Entertaining Mr Sloane, which transferred to London’s West End and led to performances overseas.

His next full-length play, Loot, premiered in 1965 and became a major success after substantial revision and a transfer to the Criterion Theatre in London. His play What the Butler Saw was produced posthumously in 1969.

Orton also wrote one-act plays such as The Erpingham Camp (1966) and The Good and Faithful Servant (1967, for television).

On 9 August 1967, Orton was murdered by Kenneth Halliwell, who subsequently took his own life.