Prick up your Ears

Prick up your Ears

Prick Up Your Ears

The life and death of Joe Orton will be retold for the stage at the Comedy Theatre in September with “Little Britain” star Matt Lucas starring as his lover and murderer Kenneth Halliwell.

In “Prick Up Your Ears”, Chris New stars as the controversial playwright Orton, whose famous works include “What The Butler Saw”, “The Ruffian On The Stair” and a show that has recently been seen in the West End, “Entertaining Mr Sloane”.

New himself also has a range of credits to his name and arrives at the Comedy Theatre having already appeared in “The Reporter” at the Cottesloe National Theatre (2007), as well as “Bent” at the Trafalgar Studios whilst carrying out work for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Many will also remember him for appearances in various British television shows likes “Silent Witness”.

Orton’s life was going through somewhat of a transition during the time that “Prick Up Your Ears” opens. It is the early 1960s and he and Halliwell have just graduated from RADA with the aim of turning the literary world upside down. Living together in a flat in Islington, the pair go through life arguing and putting up with each other’s humorous put downs. However, Halliwell is becoming increasingly isolated, with their original aim of taking literary classics from the local library and subverting them being slowly replaced with Orton’s blossoming career as a playwright.

His plays were subverting conventions themselves and he was starting to gain a reputation as a modern day Oscar Wilde. Halliwell on the other hand found himself at home alone, disheartened by his partner’s success and spending most of his time watching from the sidelines alongside their neighbour Mrs Corden.

Eventually Orton would become the victim to Halliwell’s jealousy as the latter murdered the playwright before taking his own life.

Lucas, playing Orton, is a well known British comedian who is one half of a comedy duo that also features David Walliams. The pair have made “Little Britain” together whilst also appearing in the likes of “Rock Profile” and working alongside Reeves & Mortimer in “Shooting Stars” (where Lucas played the Baby\scorekeeper George Dawes) and “Bang Bang It’s Reeves And Mortimer”. He was last on a West End stage seven years ago when he had a lead role in Boy George’s “Taboo” at The Venue.

“Prick Up Your Ears” is at the Comedy Theatre from Wednesday 30th September 2009 (previews from Thursday 17th September 2009) to Sunday 6th December 2009.