Joe Orton News

ENTERTAING MR. SLOAN by Joe Orton, the latest entry in the grim comedy sweepstakes currently going on at 2nd Story Theater in Warren, is a funny plays made with gruesome ingredients. When the audience takes its seat, it is greeted by Trevor Elliot's set--a simple, orderly middle class living room, which suggests nothing of the chaos soon to take place. Like the characters Orton created in 1964, the set is not what it first appears to be: what the audience cannot see is that the orderly living room is in a house at the edge of a dump.

The stars of PCS's THREE DAYS OF RAIN sat down with the media to talk about the play, how the collaboration came about, and the difference between acting on TV and on stage.

The Man Who Had All the Luck is Arthur Miller's rarely performed first produced play. Searchingly philosophical and vehemently political, it intimates much that will take centre stage in his better- known work for decades to come. This revival in Miller's centenary year will be the second production from renowned theatre company End of Moving Walkway, whose critically acclaimed Oh, the Humanity and Other Good Intentions was nominated for a What's On Stage Award and two Off West End Awards. The play runs September 2nd - 26th, 2015. Press Night: September 4th, 2015, 7pm.

Palm Beach Dramaworks concludes its fifteenth anniversary season with Lanie Robertson's Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, a moving and surprisingly joyous look back at the too-short, turbulent life of the legendary Billie Holiday. Lady Day opens at  the Don & Ann Brown Theatre on May 15 and continues through June 7, with specially priced previews on May 13 and 14.

Lanford Wilson's 'Talley Trilogy' continues on the Aurora Theatre Company main stage with FIFTH OF JULY. Aurora Artistic Director Tom Ross (A Bright New Boise, This Is How It Goes, Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance, The Shape of Things) helms FIFTH OF JULY, featuring Craig Marker (The Shape of Things, The Persians), Elizabeth Benedict, John Girot, Jennifer Le Blanc, Oceana Ortiz, Harold Pierce, Josh Schell, and Nanci Zoppi. FIFTH OF JULY plays tonight, April 17 through May 17 at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley.

Hub Theatre Company of Boston starts its third season with LOOT, an irreverent, dark comedy by British playwright Joe Orton (WHAT THE BUTLER SAW, ENTERTAINING MR. SLOANE) at the First Church in Boston. Daniel Bourque directs a cast of six live actors and one dormant dummy that is handled with reckless abandon. Part detective story, part farce, LOOT is reminiscent of plays staged by high school drama clubs in the 1960s, giving everyone a chance to chew lots of scenery.

Hub Theatre Company of Boston will kick off its third season this spring with Joe Orton's irreverent and amoral dark farce, Loot, at the First Church in Bosttoday, tonight, March 27-Sunday, April 12.

In King Lear, Shakespeare wrote, 'The wheel is come full circle.' The Bard's famous line holds true at 2nd Story where Artistic Director Ed Shea has returned the UpStage theater to its original in-the-round configuration. Shea, well known for shaking things up mid-season, said this about his decision to go back to 2nd Story's in-the-round roots: 'I'd forgotten how intimate, immediate and profoundly simple theatre can be.'

The John Drew Theater at Guild Hall in East Hampton presents Arthur Miller's award-winning American classic All My Sons starring Alec Baldwin and Laurie Metcalf and directed by Stephen Hamilton. The play will run Tuesdays through Sundays, June 9-28 and is produced by Guild Hall in association with Roy Furman and Ellen Myers.

FISH IN THE DARK, the new comedy written by and starring Larry David, is running for an 18-week limited engagement through Sunday, June 7 at the Cort Theatre. Opening night is tonight, March 5. Let's see what the critics had to say...

Lanford Wilson's 'Talley Trilogy' continues on the Aurora Theatre Company main stage with FIFTH OF JULY. Aurora Artistic Director Tom Ross (A Bright New Boise, This Is How It Goes, Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance, The Shape of Things) helms FIFTH OF JULY, featuring Craig Marker (The Shape of Things, The Persians), Elizabeth Benedict, John Girot, Jennifer Le Blanc, Oceana Ortiz, Harold Pierce, Josh Schell, and Nanci Zoppi. FIFTH OF JULY plays April 17 through May 17 at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. For tickets ($32-60) and information the public can call (510) 843-4822 or visit auroratheatre.org.

In King Lear, Shakespeare wrote, "The wheel is come full circle." The Bard's famous line holds true at 2nd Story where Artistic Director Ed Shea has returned the UpStage theater to its original in-the-round configuration. Shea, well known for shaking things up mid-season, said this about his decision to go back to 2nd Story's in-the-round roots: "I'd forgotten how intimate, immediate and profoundly simple theatre can be."

Circle X Theatre Co. is thrilled to announce the world premiere solo performance, AT SOME POINT IN THE PROCESS OF THE END OF THE WORLD, created by LA Weekly Award-winner for Solo Performance Casey Smith and Jennifer A. Skinner, performed by Casey Smith and directed by Jennifer A. Skinner.

Hub Theatre Company of Boston will kick off its third season this spring with Joe Orton's irreverent and amoral dark farce, Loot, at the First Church in Boston Friday, March 27-Sunday, April 12.

Circle X Theatre Co. is thrilled to announce the world premiere solo performance, AT SOME POINT IN THE PROCESS OF THE END OF THE WORLD, created by LA Weekly Award-winner for Solo Performance Casey Smith and Jennifer A. Skinner, performed by Casey Smith and directed by Jennifer A. Skinner.

Multitalented British actress and director, best known for portraying the Agatha Christie detective Miss Marple, Geraldine McEwan, has died at age 82. The BAFTA Award-winner's family says she died on January 30, due to complications from a stroke suffered in October.

Aurora Theatre Company continues its 23rd season with the Bay Area Premiere of Nicky Silver's (Pterodactyls, Raised in Captivity) scathingly funny Broadway hit THE LYONS. Tony-nominated director Barbara Damashek, who helmed Aurora Theatre Company's productions of American Buffalo, Fat Pig, and Private Jokes, Public Places, returns to direct THE LYONS, featuring Ellen Ratner (After the Revolution, Awake and Sing!), Will Marchetti (Knock Knock), Nicholas Pelczar (Dublin Carol, Marius), Jessica Bates (After the Revolution), Joe Estlack (Shotgun Players, Magic Theatre), and Edris Cooper-Anifowoshe (Brava Theater, TheatreWorks, Magic Theatre). THE LYONS plays January 30 through March 1 at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. For tickets ($32-60) and information the public can call (510) 843-4822 or visit auroratheatre.org. For mature audiences.

Rough Haired Pointer present The Diary of a Nobody following their critically-acclaimed world premiere of Joe Orton's Fred & Madge. Evelyn Waugh called The Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith 'the funniest book in the world' and now, following a sell-out success last summer, this fast-moving theatrical spectacular returns as the first show of the King's Head Theatre season. It stars Charles Pooter, an average Victorian city clerk - with his attempts to be somebody, this nobody is highly entertaining (Time Out).

Award-winning British playwright Joe Orton's riotous farce 'What the Butler Saw' opened last weekend on November 23 at the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum. 'What the Butler Saw' continues through December 21. Click below to watch a fun montage of scenes from the show!

Joe Orton's insanely insane world in 1960s England is no better displayed than in his third and final play What the Butler Saw now onstage at the Mark Taper Forum through December 21. A terrifically energized cast are on hand as is seasoned director John Tillinger, but things got off to a somewhat slow start opening night and really did not start to cook until Act II. It might be the width and depth of the Taper stage, which is not easy to cross that rapidly. I saw a production a couple of years back at the Odyssey, and the space being half the size, entrances and exits were quicker as was the tempo of the whole play.