BBC Radio 4 Extra

Joe Orton - The Ruffian on the Stair

Drama: Thriller

01/09/2014

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Joe Orton - The Ruffian on the Stair

Wilson forces himself into Mike and Joyce's home and brings terror.

4 Extra Debut. Wilson forces himself into Mike and Joyce's home and brings terror. Joe Orton's first play sent to the BBC. Stars Kenneth Cranham.

Joe Orton's black comedy about a couple, Mike and Joyce. He's an Irish ex-boxer living on the dole and she's an ex-prostitute. A mysterious young man called Wilson arrives who toys with their lives. The play is based on The Boy Hairdresser, a novel by Orton and his lover and mentor Kenneth Halliwell sent to BBC producer John Tydeman. 

It was this play that sparked the beginning of Orton's brief period of public acclaim, just three years before he was murdered by Halliwell in 1967. 
 
Stars Avis Bunnage, Kenneth Cranham and Dermot Kelly. Directed by John Tydeman. 
First broadcast on the BBC Third Programme on 31st August 1964.

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