“There are fascinating possibilities in this situation. I’d get it down on paper if I were you” said Joe Orton once, the young playwright followed his own advice, and for a period of his short life kept a diary. American theatre critic John Lahr dramatized the diaries in 1989, and the result is Diary of a Somebody which has now opened as the second production at the new Seven Dials Playhouse in London.
Joe Orton created a stir in the late sixties with a flurry of black comedies that both enthralled and shocked the London theatre scene, and plays like Loot and What The Butler Saw continue to draw audiences when they are revived. But his success was short-lived, at aged just 34 he was brutally murdered by his lover, who then took his own life and left a note suggesting that Orton’s diaries held an explanation for his actions.
Orton’s diaries were outrageous, almost to the point of being pornographic, filled with gossip and tittle-tattle that revealed the truth about the man known for provocative writing. Lahr’s script lacks this same shock-factor, merely dipping into Orton’s sex life with vague references to cruising public lavatories and holidays to Morocco where young boys were easy to come by.
It also does little to fully explore the relationship between Orton and his long-term partner, Kenneth Halliwell. The latter’s spiral of depression, which eventually led to him taking both their lives, is well written, with Toby Osmond’s portrayal effectively showing the jealousy and insecurity that Halliwell felt.
George Kemp gives a flawless performance as Joe Orton, even though the script might not give him all that much to work with, Kemp succeeds in showing the care-free effervescent personality that made Orton the toast of London. Kemp masterfully engages with the audience, meaning that even in Orton’s least salubrious moments, we feel more inclined to side with Joe.
Diary of a Somebody has a cast of six, with four of them all playing a large number of roles, from Kenneth Williams to a bus driver and Paul McCartney to the woman who lived downstairs. Because it’s primarily told in diary format, many of these characters make an appearance only to deliver one line, so too often the small stage of the Seven Dials Playhouse starts to feel cluttered with entrances and exits.
Director, Nico Rao Pimparé does handle this well, and uses a number of techniques to try and minimise the disruption. Having quite so many characters isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it shows Orton and Halliwell’s day to day life in more vivid detail, although having to take on such a variety of different personalities, and accents, proves more challenging for some of the cast than others.
Of the supporting cast, Jemma Churchill is most adept at chopping and changing roles. Churchill gets to personify Mrs Edna Welthorpe, a fictional letter writing character created by Orton. Churchill also has the honour of delivering one of the funniest lines of the whole play, one which received a solid minute of sustained laughter from the audience.
Diary of a Somebody is a genuinely hilarious play, and while audiences may be coming to learn more about the lives of Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell, they’ll discover a wickedly good comedy in the process.
Jonathan Myerson, who originally approached John Lahr to write the play for the National Theatre, said that the original diaries were ‘crammed with so much material’ and at times it feels like Diary of a Somebody has tried to fit in every single detail, no matter how irrelevant, at the expense of truly exploring this most fascinating of love stories. That said, this production makes the most of what it’s got, and has the audience in hysterics on more than one occasion.
Diary of a Somebody is at Seven Dials Playhouse until 30th April 2022.
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