What The Butler Sawwritten byJoe Ortondirected byKristen Bowditchperformed atThe Colourhouse TheatreJuly 2001 |
I have been a big fan of Joe Orton's ever since my mother made me repeatedly watch the film version of Loot . Either she wanted me to grow up a bank robber, funny, or gay. I am sorry to say I disappointed her on all counts.
What The Butler Saw was the last play that Orton wrote shortly before his violent and untimely death in 1967, and was performed posthumously.
It's a satirical examination of pop psychology, gender bending, mistaken identity and lunatic logic. A breakneck farce, where few manage to keep their heads whilst those around them are losing their clothes. It's full of the most ridiculous plot twists, unlikely liaisons and naiveté ever seen on stage, but it's a work of pure anarchic, anti-establishment genius for all that.
We have updated some of the references (hence vitality pills have become Viagra, and health scheme became NHS) and we didn't exactly follow Orton's stage directions to the letter, we added quite a few visual gags of our own, but over thirty years later, please don't take this the wrong way, we hope we have stayed true to Orton's vision and that this play still manages to shock you. If you go home having been entertainingly outraged, then we have done him proud.
It only remains for me to say this (and let's face it, you're probably only reading this because you got here fifteen minutes early) the cast had six weeks to rehearse this and never in the history of Carlton Dramatic Society has so much been achieved by so few in so little time.
p.s. Sorry about the crayon, they don't allow sharp objects in here.
Dr. Prentice | Ian Ward | |
a Psychiatrist | diagnosis: masochist | |
Geraldine Barclay | Lucy Duncan | |
an employee of the Friendly Faces Employment Agency | diagnosis: Shirley Templeitus | |
Mrs. Prentice | Val Foskett | |
a nymphomaniac | diagnosis: outrageous woman | |
Nicholas Beckett | Graham Parks | |
a Pageboy employed at the Station Hotel | diagnosis: compulsive liar | |
Dr Rance | Mike Tierney | |
a mental doctor | diagnosis: considerable deviation overlap | |
Sgt Match | Jeff Graves | |
a representative of Order | diagnosis: fixated on his helmet |
Director | ~ | Kristen Bowditch |
Stage Management | ~ | Cindy Graves Sue Lovelace |
Props | ~ | Cindy Graves Jeff Graves Elizabeth Hawes |
Costumes | ~ | Georgina Gorham |
Lighting | ~ | Carl Whiteside |
Sound | ~ | Simon Harris Matthew Petty |
Program Design | ~ | Kristen Bowditch |
Publicity | ~ | James Derbyshire |
Front of House | ~ | Penny Stone & Friends |
Mugshots | ~ | Matt |
'Immortalising the cast in a series of pornographic studies' (she still has the negatives) | ~ | Jane Lewis |
Trussing the cast up | ~ | Straitjacket Sue |
Transport | ~ | Graves Transportation Ltd |
Rehearsal Space | ~ | Whiteside rehearsal rooms (very reasonable rates) |
Gentlemens' apparel | ~ | James Grayston |
Helping out | ~ | Sarah Hewitt |
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