The Blue Plaque is located at the playwright, author and diarist Joe Orton’s childhood home, 9 Fayrhurst Road, Leicester.
John Kingsley Orton (he later changed his name to Joe) was born in Leicester in 1933 and lived at 9 Fayrhurst Road, Saffron Lane estate, Leicester throughout his childhood. He was educated at Marriott Road School and then took a secretarial course at the city’s Clark’s College. He joined Leicester Drama Society in 1947, taking part in a junior production. In 1953 Orton moved to London to study at R.A.D.A. He would make the trip back to Leicester to visit his family just once a year.
Orton wrote eight plays for theatre, radio, film and television between 1963 up to his death in 1967. The Ruffian on the Stair (1963) was first broadcast by the BBC in 1964. His first stage play Entertaining Mr Sloane (1963) was shown in 1964 at the New Arts Theatre, London and opened on Broadway in 1965. The Good and Faithful Servant (1964) was first produced by Rediffusion Television in April 1967. His second play Loot (1964 – 66) went on to win the coveted Evening Standard Award for Best Play in 1967. The original version of The Erpingham Camp (1965) was produced by Rediffusion TV in 1966. Funeral Games (1966) was first presented by Yorkshire Television in August 1968 as part of a series based on ‘The Seven Deadly Virtues’. What the Butler Saw (1967) was first staged at the Queen’s Theatre, London in March 1969 almost a year and a half after his death. Up Against It (1967) was written as a film script for The Beatles but the project never materialised.
In August 1967, Orton’s partner Kenneth Halliwell murdered the playwright before committing suicide himself.
The photograph below shows Joe Orton outside his flat in Noel Street, London N1 on 22 May 1964. Photograph copyright
Leicester Mercury.
