by Joe Orton

THE PLAY

Two psychiatrists (one excessively libidinous, the other certifiably insane); one recently ravished nymphomaniac; one cross-dressing policeman; one well-hung pageboy; one innocent secretary trying to keep one step ahead of the mayhem. With four doors, a dozen bottles of scotch, a consulting-room couch that’s big enough for two, and the biggest hypodermic in the history of British theatre, What the Butler Saw is one of the greatest farces twentieth century.

Dr Prentice’s bungled attempt to have sex with his prospective secretary on the consulting-room couch detonates the action of Joe Orton’s greatest play – a madcap but consistently logical spiral of lies, cross-dressing, and physical violence played out in real time amid the lurid horrors of Prentice’s private clinic for the insane. Unfortunately for everyone caught up in the crossfire, a hard-line government inspector of lunatic asylums arrives halfway through Act 1. ‘I represent Her Majesty’s Government,’ Dr Rance announces, ‘Your immediate superiors in madness.’

What the Butler Saw is an imperishable modern classic. As Peter Hall puts it in his Diaries (27 June 1979): ‘Orton was a miraculous writer. I still remember the sheer breathless pleasure I had when I first read What the Butler Saw. That play is surely one of the comic masterpieces of the century? Has to be.’

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