“I like to know where I stand in relation to the number of limbs a man has”.

Written in 1964, The Good and Faithful Servant was first produced by Rediffusion Television in April 1967.

The play’s central figure, Buchanan, a commissionaire, is retiring after giving a lifetime and an amputated limb in loyal service. Realising that his life and legacy amount to nothing, Buchanan registers his disenchantment by destroying his retirement gifts with a hammer.

Contemplating a wasted life, Buchanan dies in bed shortly after his retirement as sunlight streams through the window and his new wife, Edith, idly chats about the forthcoming holiday season and the ‘get together’ at the Bell Hotel.

Edith: I’m buying a new dress for the occasion. And I shall smile a lot, more than usual, because we have so much to be thankful for.

A poignant and bitter one-act play, Orton concentrates his irony on the slavish belief in industrial routine and the threat of anonymity and failure.