Respectable institutions collapse under lies, desire and violence in Joe Orton’s dark farces. Entertaining Mr Sloane places a charming young lodger between two siblings whose desire for him becomes increasingly manipulative. Loot begins with a funeral and develops into a farce about stolen money, corrupt policing and bodies treated as inconvenient objects, while What the Butler Saw turns a psychiatric clinic into a rapid sequence of disguises, mistaken identities and institutional absurdity. Orton’s dialogue is polished and epigrammatic even when the action becomes outrageous, making social respectability itself part of the joke. The clearest discovery routes are post-war British comedy, black farce and queer theatre, with links to Oscar Wilde’s verbal precision and the more anarchic comedy of later playwrights. Read more Less
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