Details

1962. Kenneth Halliwell and Joe Orton - RADA graduates, aspiring playwrights, and sometime lovers - plot their rightful place at the centre of London's literary scene whilst engaged in a secret crusade to "improve" the local library books, all in the worst possible taste of course, and acting out their own versions of popular radio dramas... with an extra dash of innuendo. But after a short interlude at Her Majesty's pleasure, Joe is about to become the greatest, and most notorious comic playwright since Oscar Wilde, whilst Ken stays indoors re-decorating, reduced to sharing Joe's success with their neighbour, Mrs Corden, over tea and a slice of battenburg. Prick Up Your Ears - a darkly funny and moving play imagines what really happened when, after years of creative collaboration, the door slammed shut and Kenneth was home alone. It tells the sensational story behind the domestic life of Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell, holed up in a tiny flat in Islington, trading well-trodden insults and hilarious put-downs like any old married couple. Matt Lucas has permanently withdrawn from the production. Prick Up Your Ears website.

Cast/Performers

Michael Chadwick (Kenneth Halliwell - until Oct 22), Con O'Neill (Kenneth Halliwell - from Oct 22), Chris New (Orton), Gwen Taylor (Mrs Corden)

Creatives/Company

Author: Simon Bent
Producer(s): Sonia Friedman Productions, Kim Poster (for Stanhope Productions), Lee Menzies
Director: Daniel Kramer
Design: Peter McKintosh
Lighting: Peter Mumford
Sound: Gareth Owen