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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a stridently polemical book seeking to 'reclaim' Orton from 'straight society' and give him back to the gay community. It is the antidote to John Lahr's Orton biography that was too easy on Orton and too hard on Kenneth Halliwell. Shepherd's book is not a conventional biography but rather a sociological investigation of Orton, Orton's plays, the Orton industry and everything to do with the man from Leicester. Shepherd namechecks everyone from Herbert Marcuse, Stuart Hall, Stanley Cohen and Ray Gosling as he seeks to find out why Orton still provokes such a reaction. He ridicules Lahr for being obsessed with Halliwell's lack of hair and castigates Orton's agent for failing to help him with his research. (He is especially annoyed that he was not allowed to read the original Orton diaries.) So, yes, it is a highly personal book but still a very good one. One gets the impression that the author never strayed toobfar from his study and local libraries to do this book (he mentions one brief visit to see an exhibition in Leicester) but that should not detract from the basic worth of the book. It should be read in addition to Lahr's biography and not instead of.
Format:Hardcover
A good book by the much missed Joe Orton, a very talented man in writing stage shows and books, if you know and understand this man your find this book smashing.
Format:Hardcover
Simon Shepherd's book is a useful corrective to John Lahr's 'official'version of the Orton legend. As well as being a much stronger writer than Lahr, Shepherd has the additional advantages of being both English and homosexual (the first is definitely an advantage when it comes to studying Orton, the second somewhat less so, I'd say). He takes an axe to Lahr's portrayal of the Halliwell-Orton relationship, exposing its underlying homophobia and giving us a new interpretation of Halliwell's role, which I find far more convincing than anything offered by Lahr.
I've docked one star because the book is defintely a product of its times (1988) and is full of furious venting against clause 28, Thatcher, et al - all very germane back then, but nowadays sounding very old hat.
I've docked one star because the book is defintely a product of its times (1988) and is full of furious venting against clause 28, Thatcher, et al - all very germane back then, but nowadays sounding very old hat.
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