Prick Up Your Ears

Synopsis

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.

Our Review:

Glenn Meads - 1 September 2009

Prick Up Your Ears is described as a new play, which is kind of stretching the truth slightly, as the source material formed the basis for Stephen Frears' film of the same name, released in 1987. It is difficult to forget Gary Oldman's strident turn, as celebrated gay playwright Joe Orton and Alfred Molina's tic-filled performance as his tormented lover, Kenneth Halliwell.

So, the producers have cast funnyman Matt Lucas as Orton's devoted lover, hoping to get a full house via his name alone. Chris New, fresh from his success in the recent West End revival of Bent plays Orton. These two performers are like chalk and cheese and this works to a certain extent, as they are able to bring different aspects of their own personalities to the roles. But Lucas never seems to fully let go of his famous TV comedy characters, often lapsing into a 'funny' voice that you have heard before, which me...

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Latest User Review

Tara - 5 October 2009:

Also saw this in Brighton and also found it unenlightening and unimaginative. Loved Gwen Taylor though....

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