EVENTS AND PERFORMANCES
New production of What the Butler Saw
Theatre by the Lake, Lakeside, Keswick, Cumbria
Fri 11 June – Sat 6 November 2010 (Preview: Thu 10 June)
For more details click here

NEWS

WALK OF FAME
Joe Orton was one of the first people to be honoured in Leicester’s new Walk of Fame announced by the city council. Engelbert Humperdinck joined other celebrities to watch Leicester's Hollywood-style Walk of Fame being unveiled. The event on 24th April was one of a host of activities taking place across the city as part of a three-day Festival of St George.

The walk comprises cinquefoil-shaped plaques set into the pavement near Curve, in the city's Cultural Quarter. Adrian Mole author Sue Townsend and snooker ace Mark Selby were also there to see their name plaques unveiled, along with family members of Alice Hawkins, Joe Orton, Tom Barclay, Thomas Cook, Jennie Fletcher and Ernest Gimson who are also commemorated.

NEW BIOGRAPHY OF THE ARTIST PATRICK PROCKTOR
'Patrick Procktor: Art and Life' by Ian Massey, published by Unicorn Press
Patrick Procktor RA (1936-2003) has been one of the least documented of the artists who came to prominence in London in the Sixties. A notable painter and printmaker, he was also a portraitist of distinction: his subjects include many of the Sixties and Seventies figures with whom he associated, and his portraits of the actress Jill Bennett and playwright Joe Orton are amongst the iconic images of the era. Procktor designed for the stage at the Royal Court Theatre and for Sadler's Wells, and exhibited his paintings internationally.

Read an extract describing Procktor's drawing of Joe Orton here

JOE ORTON AND ME
'I’m often asked what do I think of Joe Orton. Well, let me put it this way, I liked him, everybody liked him. He was keen witted, full of jokes and had a very warm personality.'

New contribution to Joe Orton and Me from the late Gerry Duggan (1910-1992), who played McLeavy in the 1966 London Traverse Theatre Company production of Loot. Gerry recorded his experiences and you can read the transcript here