![]() Orton’s Edna Welthorpe letters satirise snobbery and conservatism. ![]() It also conveys her strong allegiance to English tradition and her limited horizons (‘thorpe’ is the Anglo-Saxon word for ‘village’). Orton cut out and kept a 1964 article about the scandal titled ‘Aunt Edna Revolt Rocks West End’.Įdna’s surname conveys her status as a do-gooder and her sense of righteousness (‘well’ means ‘good’). Condemned as brutal, sick and disgusting, Sloane became the centre of a protest about ‘dirty’ plays in London’s West End, the heart of Theatreland. Orton’s first stage play Entertaining Mr Sloane was fiercely attacked by ‘Aunt Edna’. ![]() Aunt Edna was white, middle-class and conservative. This name was inspired by ‘Aunt Edna’ the title that fellow playwright Terence Rattigan gave to the typical 1950s theatre-goer. Carlsen and Jay Chakiris but the name he employed most often was Mrs Edna Welthorpe. ![]() ![]() Orton adopted various pseudonyms including Donald H. Orton and Halliwell’s ‘defaced’ library book covers are owned by Islington Local History Centre and Museum.Īround the same time that he and Halliwell started redesigning library books, Orton also began writing prank letters using false names. After returning the books, the couple would amuse themselves by watching the shocked reaction of unsuspecting readers to the ‘absurd or mildly obscene’ artwork that they pasted onto dustjackets. Orton was not just a playwright but also a prankster and a provocateur.īetween 19, he and his partner Kenneth Halliwell expressed their disdain for mainstream society by playfully redesigning the covers of books stolen from Hampstead and Islington public libraries. ![]()
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