Did the play still have what it takes, nearly 40 years on? Michael Billington certainly thought so. Janie wasn’t so sure – she’s never been convinced by Orton. I thought this one worked better than the revival of What the Butler Saw at the National, which I recall disappointed me, so I didn’t find it dated; but Tom Keatinge did.
But who cares – I’ve seen the play now and mum couldn’t stop me this time.
I rated this “good” but frankly I rated it higher than Janie did. I have always been partial to a bit of Joe Orton, while Janie finds the farce element of Orton’s plays not to her taste.
This production pushed my Orton boundaries somewhat as Phyllida Lloyd certainly accentuated the farce aspect.
Saturday 15 March 1986 – Rose quite late – went to library etc. with dad . Met Bobbie in afternoon for tea -> Kings Head for meal+ show “A Taste of Orton”. Went to Garfunkles for ice bowl – got home late.
This would have been our/my first visit to the King’s Head Theatre in Islington, which specialised in such “dinner and show” stuff.
I remember very much enjoying this double bill of short plays. Gorilla In the Roses was about Joe Orton’s anarchic pranks involving hoax letters and defacing library books, while Funeral Games is an actual Orton short play, which was even more to our taste [did you see what I did there], than Gorilla, as I recall it.
The meal was also only somewhat to our taste – I think the quality of the food at the King’s Head improved over the decades, but it was still a bit school-dinners-ish in the mid 1980s.
That might explain our crazy craving for ice cream after the show, despite having had tea before the show and dinner during.
Kids, eh? Well, 20-somethings, anyway.
For the completists amongst us (probably just me) here are the diary entries for the next few days:
Sunday 16 March 1986 – Rose quite early despite late night. Went to Grandma Jenny’s in afternoon. Had a fairly early night.
Monday 17 March 1986 – 1st day back at work – decorators in etc. Met Caroline for lunch – Venice Place. Went to Concert Artistes’ [Association] in afternoon. Lazy evening in.
Tuesday 18 March 1986 – Busy day at work. Stayed in eve.
Wednesday 19 March 1986 – Work OK. Stayed in eve – did homework.
Thursday 20 March 1986 – Quietish day at work. Stayed in eve – doing dad’s accounts etc.
Friday 21 March 1986 – Busy day at office etc. Stayed in evening.
Michael Lempriere had arranged for our drama class to go and see Entertaining Mr Sloane by Joe Orton. It would have been the mid 1970s Royal Court revival production (probably the West End transfer thereof), with Beryl Reid as Kath, Malcolm McDowell as Sloane, James Ottaway as Kemp and Ronald Fraser as Eddie.
Anyway, when my mum got wind of it that we were going to see THAT play, she went into high horse mode, for reasons I cannot quite work out. I think she just felt that we were far too young for…whatever it was…not that she really knew anything about it, other than the fact that she probably mentioned it to a friend and that friend looked horrified at the thought. perhaps a sample of two priggish friends.
Mum was probably in a grumpy mood generally at that time – she was in and out of hospital for the first half of that year, culminating in a hip replacement in May. Anyway, she decided not merely to ground me from this one – I might have got away with just minor embarrassment for that. She got on to the school and got the outing cancelled. How un-hip was that?
Several of my drama pals were mightily unimpressed with this, as was I. We were all very disappointed as much as anything else. Michael Lempriere handled the matter with great dignity I’m sure, but that couldn’t prevent the ribbing. In particular, I recall Bob Kelly giving me a hard time; not least suggesting my mother’s physical as well as behavioural similarities with Mary Whitehouse. As my mother had chosen to go down the cruel spectacles line during the mid 1970s (illustrated with a 1977 picture below) this was a difficult charge to deny.
I’m not entirely sure when the theatre trip that never was should have happened. My diary is silent on the whole matter. I am guessing it was supposed to be an after exams jolly at the end of my second year, but it might just have been a start of the next academic year jolly for our drama group. If the latter, we didn’t miss out on Ottaway and McDowell, we missed out on Harry H. Corbett as Ed and Kenneth Cranham as Sloane.
