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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 20, 2004)
february 20. 2004 « J u s t o u t 39 TH EA TER P ortland theatergoers have a rare opportunity through March 6 to see a masterwork by one of the finest farceurs of the 20th century. The late Bntish playwright Joe O rton’s Loot is being presented by C 0 H 0 Productions, and, while the production leaves much to he desired, O rton’s genius does not. Loot is O rto n ’s third play and represents a turning point in his short career. After its premiere, the term “O rtonesque,” meaning that which is both macabre and outrageous, entered the theatrical lexicon. A t the height of his popularity at age 34, O rton wrote in his diary, “I have high hopes of dying in my prime.” Just one m onth later, he was brutally murdered by his lover of 16 years. O rton was horn in Leicester, England, in 1933. His family was working-class and abusive, and O rton, who attended secre tarial school and acted in local plays, was determined to escape. In 1951 he entered Londons Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, where he “lost my confidence and my virginity.” He also met Kenneth Halliwell, who was seven years older. Halliwell and O rton moved into a tiny N orth London flat. Halliwell, who was living off of an inheritance at the time, taught Orton about Greek drama and the English literary classics. The couple wrote novels together, hut none was ever accepted for pub lication. (Two were published posthumously in 1999.) In 1962, before success hit, the couple were caught stealing and defacing library fxxiks. They removed hundreds of pictures and tacked them to their apartm ent walls, then wrote fake blurbs on the book flaps and inserted obscene pictures. W hen they returned the books, they’d hide out to watch the looks of horror on the faces of library patrons as they stumbled upon the prank. Both were sentenced to six months in prison. (Some of the books are now on display in a local museum.) Loot is a delightfully wicked farce that combines a robbery, a corpse and a glass eye to create an evening of satirical laughs. Two young thieves, Hal and Dennis, rob a bank th at’s next to the mortuary for which Dennis drives a hearse. They bring the “loot” to Hal’s house, where his recently deceased mother lies in state. W hen the cops arrive, they hide the money in Mrs. McLeavy’s coffin and stuff her in a wardrobe. Loot takes place in a world that turns values, institutions A fitting epigraph Gay playwright’s outrageous macabre on view at CoHo by F loyd S klaver Nurse Fay and the boys wreak havoc in Joe O rton’s Loot through March 6 at C oH o Productions and beliefs upside down (many productions stand Mrs. McLeavy on her head in the wardrobe) and where characters contradict assumptions about their roles. (For instance, Mrs. McLeavy’s nurse, Fay, has a track record of killing, rather than healing, her patients.) C CoHo Productions, 2257 N .W . Raleigh St., presents LOOT 8 p.m. Thursday to Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday through March 6. Tickets are $18-$20 from 503-220-2646. oH o uses a sparse set dominated by a gold and black cas ket. The actors try gamely but are stifled by sloppy and unimaginative direction. (A policeman asks for the key to The Portland Spirit presents STORM ON THE STAR Portland’s favorite “Loungecore” act t Friday, March 5th and 19th Boarding at 10 : 45 p m /C ru isin g 11 : 00 pm to 1 : 30 am < 3 a ^em m e *<JPfus in te rn a tionaf ^Pageant T'ivo Croiims to Se ftivarded QortUmd VtyjionaC La femme+flus and La Tarme Magnifique +iPCus International Tiffany Crystal Salt Lake City. ITT s i 6 advance /$ 2 0 at d o o r (A d u lts 2 1 + o n ly ) $8 o n e -tim e h o rs d ’oeuvre buffet Book to d a y — se a tin g is lim ited ! FLOYD S k la v er is a Portland free-lance writer. 'Darted X V Traductions Tresents tfie 9th Annual 2 (HU La lemme 'Slaamthfue cTius International Portland the wardrobe, but how does he know it’s locked when he never tries to open it?) Still, the playwright’s famous epigrams shine through. As w ith all O rto n ’s work, sex plays an im portant role in Loot. Hal is sleeping w ith Dennis, who is in love w ith Fay, who wants to marry Mr. McLeavy for his money. As one critic noted, “In the hom y world of Joe O rto n ’s plays, everyone lusts after everyone regardless of gender or family relationship.” Even with th e harsh sodomy laws of that era, O rto n ’s sex ual appetites were voracious. His diaries included many adventures. H e was prone to public toilets (he called them “the last bastion of male privilege”), including one tryst with a dwarf in Brighton and one w ith a laborer he picked up on the way to his m other’s funeral. In fact, a public toilet in N orth London, where O rto n regularly cruised for sex, was preserved by th e D epartm ent of N ational Heritage in 1999 at a cost of approxim ately $81,000. W hile O rto n grew m ore famous (h e was writing a screen play for the Beatles), Halliwell was becom ing little more th an a maid to him (they had long since stopped having sex) and growing bitter. In A ugust 1967, he com m itted a grue some murder-suicide, beating O rto n to death w ith nine ham mer blows to th e head and then taking his own life with 22 Nem butals. Halliwell left a parting note stating: “If you read his diary, all will be explained.... Especially the latter part.” But O rto n ’s diary ended several days before the murder, and rumors abounded that the final pages were removed, perhaps by the authorities, to pro tect the identity of a celebrity with whom O rton was thought to be having an affair. 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