Joe Orton
Joe Orton was born in Leicester, England, United Kingdom on January 1st, 1933 and is the Playwright. At the age of 34, Joe Orton biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 34 years old, Joe Orton physical status not available right now. We will update Joe Orton's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.
John Kingsley Orton (1 January 1933 – September 1967), also known as Joe Orton, was an English playwright, author, and diarist.
His public career, from 1964 to 1967, was short but extremely influential.
During this brief period, he shocked, revolted, and amused audiences with his scandalous black comedies.
Ortonesque is a form of work depicted by a similar vein of farcical skepticism.
Early life
Orton was born on January 1st 1933 in Causeway Lane Maternity Hospital, Leicester, to William Arthur Orton and Elsie Mary Orton (née Bentley). Before tuberculosis cost her a lung, William worked for Leicester County Borough Council as a gardener and Elsie worked in the local footwear industry. At the time of Joe's birth, William and Mary were living at 261 Avenue Road Extension in Clarendon Park, Leicester. The Ortons moved to 9 Fayrhurst Road, a council estate, in 1935, the same year that Joe's younger brother Douglas was born. Marilyn and Leonie, Orton's younger sisters, were born in 1939 and 1944 respectively.
Orton attended Marriot Road Primary School but dropped out of the eleven-plus exam after extending bouts of asthma, and so took a classified training at Clark's College in Leicester from 1945 to 1947. He started working as a junior clerk for £3 a week.
Orton became interested in theatre around 1949 and attended a variety of dramatic societies, including the Leicester Dramatic Society. When working on amateur productions, he was determined to improve his appearance and physique, buying bodybuilding books, and taking elocution lessons. In November 1950, he was accepted for a scholarship at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), and he left the East Midlands for London. Appendicitis delayed his admission into RADA until May 1951.
Orton and two other students in June of 1951 lived in a West Hampstead apartment with Kenneth Halliwell from RADA. Halliwell was seven years older than Orton; they quickly developed a strong bond and became partners.
Both Orton and Halliwell went into regional repertory work: Orton and Halliwell spent four months in Ipswich as an assistant stage manager; Halliwell in Llandudno, Wales. Both writers returned to London and began to write together. They collaborated on a number of unpublished books (often imitating Ronald Firbank) with no success in gaining publication. In 1957, the abandonment of their great hopes, The Last Days of Sodom, prompted them to solo performances. In 1959, Orton wrote his last book, The Vision of Gombold Proval (posthumously published as Head to Toe). He later relied on these manuscripts for inspiration; many of his stage plays include sketches of his stage-play style.
Orton and Halliwell refused to work for long stretches of time, despite being confident of their "uniqueness." They remained dependent on Halliwell's money (and unemployment insurance) and were compelled to live a sedentist lifestyle and limit their spending to £5 a week. They lived in Cadbury's six-month stints until they were able to buy funds for a new apartment; in 1959, they moved to a tiny, austere apartment at 25 Noel Road in Islington.