-
February 17–20, 1988
-
A play by Joe Orton
-
-
Production Staff
-
Director: Dwight Watson
-
-
Joe Orton’s dark face is a scathing satire on money, the police, the Catholic Church, and several other sacred institutions. In the front parlor the principal object of which is a coffin, Mr. Orton has constructed a Wildean drawing-room comedy of the blackest hue. The corpse in the coffin, who is the mother of a young bank robber, is dumped upside down in a closet so that the young thief and his accomplice, an undertaker’s assistant, can use the coffin as a hiding place for their stolen money. The wild adventures that occur among the thieves, a nurse who was with the dead woman at her death, the widowed husband, and a corrupt and brutal police inspector make for a vitriolic, deadly serious black comedy that makes most other drama in this genre seem genteel. As critic William Glover noted, the play “seethes with black, baleful mirth. Cudgels traditional morality.” The current film Prick Up Your Ears deals with the life and tragic death of Joe Orton.
This page is part of an ongoing project to document the history of the theatre productions performed at Wabash College. If you have information not included on this page, please contact the Theater Department or Professor Dwight Watson (watsond@wabash.edu). |
Photo Album
Poster |
