Joe Orton’s classic sex-farce-with-a-kick is a wild ride, with authority run amok, mistaken identities, lost clothing, a blackmailing bellhop, a cross-dressing policeman, and rapid-fire dialogue worthy of Oscar Wilde. Nothing is sacred, not even Sir Winston Churchill! Note: this play includes adult subject matter, gunfire, and characters in their underwear!
What the Butler Saw
runs Jul 5 through Aug 5
Thursdays 7:30
Fridays & Saturdays 8:00
Sundays 3:00
Dr. Prentice - Patrick Bynane*
Geraldine Barclay - Katherine Bourne**
Mrs. Prentice - Dana Schultes*
Nicholas Beckett - Garret Storms**
Dr. Rance - Jerry Russell*
Sgt. Match - Dwight Greene**
* Member, Actors' Equity Association ** Equity Membership Candidate
Director - Jim Covault Production
Stage Manager - Peggy Kruger-O'Brien
Technical Director - Jason Domm
Set Design - Jim Covault
Costume Design - Michael Robinson/Dallas Costume Shoppe
Lighting Design - Michael O'Brien
Props - Lynn Lovett
Joe Orton was born January 1, 1933 in Leicester. He left school at age 16 after failing a key exam, and he struggled for several years as an amateur actor before gaining admittance to the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. There he met Kenneth Halliwell, with whom he developed a life-long partnership. The pair collaborated on several unpublished novels, but it wasn’t until Orton struck out on his own that he met with any success. His first play, Entertaining Mr. Sloane, opened in London in 1964 and on Broadway the following year. Orton’s next play, Loot, debuted in Wimbledon in 1965, where it was met with disdain from audiences and critics alike. Orton revised the work significantly and when it opened in London the following year, the work attracted enthusiastic crowds and garnered several awards, including the Evening Standard award for Best Play. In the ten months after Loot flopped on Broadway, Orton revised his radio play The Ruffian on the Stair, and wrote The Erpingham Camp, Funeral Games, and The Good and Faithful Servant, a one-act television play. He also wrote the screenplay Up Against It for the Beatles. What the Butler Saw was Orton’s last work, completed just a month before his death at the hands of his longtime partner.
