The Orton Diaries

I just finished reading The Orton Diaries edited by John Lahr who also wrote the biography of Orton. Joe Orton (1933 - 1967) was an English playwright who wrote several famous and very dark comedies—Entertaining Mr. Sloane, Loot, What the Butler Saw. I didn't know Orton or his work until I was introduced to him through Entertaining Mr. Sloane. The diaries will be of interest for a possibile three reasons: an interest in English theater from this period and Mr. Orton particularly; an interest in a snapshot of gay life in the UK in the late 1960s; an interest in psychology generally.

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