9. Joe Orton & Kenneth Halliwell, Noel Road, Islington

9. Joe Orton & Kenneth Halliwell, Noel Road, Islington

9. Joe Orton & Kenneth Halliwell, Noel Road, Islington

£40.00

£40.00

The couple lived and fought here for eight years, with tensions exacerbated by Orton’s brief yet explosive rise to fame from 1964 onwards.

Before this, the unruly pair were jointly involved in theft and the defacement of public library books, leading to short stints in prison for both of them. It was through this forced separation from Halliwell that Orton blossomed as a playwright, while Halliwell’s own career as a writer, actor and collagist was completely overlooked.

Alongside his plays Orton started keeping a diary in 1966, cataloging his theatrical successes, sexual indiscretions and rows with the increasingly disheartened Halliwell, who was actively and sadistically encouraged by Orton to read the entries.

He finally snapped on 9th August 1967, bludgeoning Orton to death with a hammer before taking his own life with an overdose of Nembutal.

Halliwell closed his suicide note with the lines: “If you read his diary all will be explained. KH. PS - Especially the last part.”

Print is 20 x 25cm, unframed, signed, numbered and comes with the above accompanying text.

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