Everything about What The Butler Saw Play totally explained
What the Butler Saw is a play by
Joe Orton first produced on
March 5,
1969, in London. The play was Orton's last before his death in 1967. The first public performance of the play - almost two years after Orton’s brutal murder - was reportedly barracked with cries of "filth!"
Plot
The play consists of two acts, and revolves around a Dr Prentice, a psychiatrist attempting to seduce his attractive prospective secretary, Geraldine Barclay. The play opens with the doctor examining Gerladine Barclay in a job interview. As part of the interview, he convinces her to undress. The situation becomes more intense during Dr Prentice's supposed "interview" with Geraldine Barclay when Mrs Prentice enters. When his wife enters, he attempts to cover up his activity by hiding the girl behind a curtain. His wife, however, is also being seduced and blackmailed by Nicholas Beckett. She therefore promises him the post as secretary, which adds further confusion. Soon, Geraldine is dressed like a boy and Nicholas is dressed like a girl,
Winston Churchill is missing body parts and the doctor is digging himself further and further into trouble by piling up more and more ridiculous lies.
Dr Prentice's clinic is then faced by a government inspection. The inspection, led by Dr Rance, reveals the chaos in the clinic. Dr Rance talks about how he'll use the situation to develop a new book. "The final chapters of my book are knitting together: incest, buggery, outrageous women and strange love-cults catering for depraved appetites. All the fashionable bric-a-brac."
Original Production
The original production was staged at the
Queen's Theatre by Lewenstein-Delfont Productions Ltd and
H. M. Tennent Ltd and opened on 5 March 1969. The production was directed by Robert Chetwyn and designed by Hutchinson Scott and featured the following cast:
Analysis
The play incorporates a combination of
British dry humour and seamier contents. For example, at one point, the police sergeant (a staple of this genre) says, "During that period he's alleged to have misconducted himself with a party of school children." Later, the sergeant accuses "Marriage excuses no one from the freaks roll-call." At the same time, it's typical of the style:
» Mrs. Prentice: "You told Dr Rance that she was burning the
golliwogs. Was that a lie?"
Prentice: "It may have been. I can’t remember."
It could be argued that the social change that Dr Prentice’s psychology is drawn against manifests itself throughout the play, in particular social attitudes towards
sexuality.
It can be argued that the play is a story about the way men and women feel and communicate, and their desire for power. For example, one of Orton’s characters calls it a “Graeco-Roman hallucination”. The on-stage visions take their themes from the old tragedies.
Caligula and
Jocasta rest comfortably together in the genealogy of the farce. Cinema-goers will recognise situations used by Orton’s contemporaries, the Carry On comedians of the late 1960s. For example,
Carry On Doctor was showing whilst the play was being written in 1967.
Awards
The play won a
1970 Obie Award for the best off-Broadway foreign play in
New York.
Further Information
Get more info on 'What The Butler Saw Play'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://what_the_butler_saw__play.totallyexplained.com">What the Butler Saw (play) Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
