GALLERY

Joe Orton, Geraldine McEwan and Kenneth Williams pictured during rehearsals of the original production of Loot which opened at the Cambridge Arts Theatre on February 1st 1965.

In a letter to Halliwell Orton despairs ’The play is a disaster’. In a review the Cambridge News called it ‘a very bad play’. Orton began a series of rewrites and the cast began a schizophrenic existence, rehearsing the rewrites in the afternoon and performing the original material in the evening.

The cast were given the option of taking the play to London, they all declined. Loot died an ignominious death after 56 performances and three rewrites.

However, Loot was successfully revived in 1966, going on to win the Evening Standard’s Best Play award.

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