Joe Orton

Joe Orton (John Kingsley Orton, 1 January 1933 – 9 August 1967) was an English playwright, born in Leicester.

In a short but prolific career lasting from 1964 until his death, he shocked, outraged and amused audiences with his scandalous black comedies. The adjective Ortonesque is now used to refer to something characterised by a dark but farcical cynicism.

Orton lived with his partner Kenneth Halliwell in a flat in Islington from 1959 until Halliwell murdered him and committed suicide in 1967.