What the Butler Saw
by Joe Orton
The eldest of four children, Joe Orton was born to working-class parents in Leicester, England, on January 1, 1933, as John Kingsley Orton. After Joe failed his 11 ...
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Biography EssayBetween 1963 and his death in 1967 Joe Orton wrote three important and four lesser plays. In the tolerant theatrical climate of the 1960s, he persuaded audiences that homosexuality, inc...
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Critical Essay by Benedict Nightingale
[The] Orton faithful claim that no play has been more viciously underrated than [What the Butler Saw]…. And yet, after seeing the piece twice fail to gen...
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Critical Essay by John Lahr
What the Butler Saw is [Joe Orton's] last and best piece of comic construction. Orton parodies farce in the play and makes use of it for his own serious and sublime...
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What the Butler Saw
Joe Orton
Critical Essay by Benedict Nightingale
