Prick Up Your Ears

From beginning to end you will be completely immersed in Orton's life. I didn't want the book to end. Beautifully written by John Lahr. Gives ample time to Kenneth Halliwell's life and character, as well. I recommend reading the complete works of Joe Orton ahead of time, to fully appreciate this biography.

Joe Orton was an original, no getting around it. His plays, especially "Entertaining Mr. Sloan," "Loot" and "What the Butler Saw" are considered classics of the blackest form of comedy. He enjoyed shocking people, while always maintaining that his characters and the situations he places them in were grounded in reality. This is a theatrical bio as bold and brash as its subject. Lahr has done a thorough job of exposing this most controversial of playwrights. Joe was a sexual compulsive, an in-your-face homosexual who enjoyed sex with strangers in public places. He also loved to brag about his exploits, never skimping on a detail. Just when "things" were finally coming together for Orton professionally, things were beginning to unravel for his companion Kenneth Halliwell, who brutally murdered Orton in August 1967. Some would say his rude death befit how he lived the rest of his life. I think that would be judging Joe too harshly. Perhaps he would have been a flash-in-the-pan or as lasting and popular as Stoppard. We'll never know. That's the tragedy. Good job Lahr.

I love a good biography, and this one is GREAT! John Lahr writes brisk, delighfully breezy, and information-saturated biographies. He has another great one of his Father - Bert Lahr - the cowardly lion in Wizard of Oz. "Prick up your Ears"...is a page turner that kept me riveted as I came to an appreciation of the latter 60's London gay scene, and the Svengali/Frankenstein-like relationship between Orton and his 16-year lover, Ken Halliwell. Halliwell brutally murdered Orton in a frenzy of jealously and sheer madness in 1967, at Orton's peak of fame. I knew nothing of Joe Orton or his plays until I caught the last hour of the movie by the same title on BBC America last month, which starred Gary Oldman. The book is much better than the movie, in that it gives you all the "behind-the-scenes" information the movie does not have time to elaborate upon. Lahr treats Orton's horrible sex-addiction sensitively, and illustrates the magnitude of his genius and vision in a very articulate manner. Though Halliwell's murder/suicide was tragic for both men, Lahr helps the reader understand the reasons which lead to his fatal mistake, without excusing it by tapping the support of many of their old friends, living family, and aquaintences. Who knows, if only Orton had acknowledged Halliwell's contributions to his work, perhaps they'd both be with us today...

This is a great book. It evokes an era when playwrites had something new and significant to say about society and its mores. The continuing and escallating success of Orton is beautifully contrasted with the perpetual failure, professional and social, of his gay lover. Orton's sly wit is well displayed.The book is written with humour and is entertaining. The pace of the book holds right through to the tragic conclusion. You do not need to love the theatre to read this book. The story holds on its own merits. Lahr is a great writer and thorough researcher.

I first became interested in Joe Orton about 10 years ago, whilst still at school. A working class playwright brutally murdered in his prime by his gay, psychotic lover is normally the stuff soap operas are made of. In Orton's case, though, it actually happened. John Lahr's handling of Orton's life is both thorough, yet sensitive to Orton's surviving relatives. He uses anecdotes from those people who knew Halliwell and Otron, plus he often quotes from Orton's own diaries, (which can be bought separately under the rather unimaginative title 'The Orton Diaries'), and Kenneth Williams (of Carry-On fame) diaries. Lahr begins this biography well by beginning from just before Orton moves to London to attend R.A.D.A (Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts), giving us glimpses of Orton's working class Leicester background. Taking us on the short journey that was Orton's life, we are shown the struggling drama student coming to terms with his lack of education by hooking up with Kenneth Halliwell, (who also attended R.A.D.A.). Lahr goes on to show us how the relationship between the two men altered from one whereby Halliwell was in charge, to a time when Orton became a successful playwright whilst Halliwell became depressed and insanely jealous. Orton's own sexual promiscuity plus his inability to give credit to Halliwell's massive contribution to Orton's own success in the field of literature all played a part in his gruesome demise at the hands of a demented Halliwell, all of which is covered in depth in Lahr's book. If Lahr is to be believed, Orton was a selfish, self-centred oath, (something that can also be detected in his plays). What does become clear from the book is this; without Halliwell, there would have been no Orton. I would strongly advise people to read the book before seeing the film version (with Gary Oldman playing Orton)of the same name.