Wilde Would Have Loved Orton's Freudian `Butler'

Oscar Wilde would have been pleased. British writer Joe Orton's satirical play What the Butler Saw continues the irreverent tradition set by that great literary master in ridiculing the social standards and judgmental morals imposed by society. This 1960s play also pays homage to the time in which it was written, concentrating on the hilarities of sex, death, religion and the police force. When Orton wrote this play, he was a quickly rising star in the British literary scene; by the time of his death, he was working on such prestigious projects as screenplays for "The Beatles". His plays belie his homosexuality, and often gained much of their power and humor from their ability to candidly joke about, for example in Butler, the postmortem theft of Winston Churchill's penis. And yet even in the supposedly free era of the 1960s, Orton was unwilling to publically announce his homosexuality, and was killed by his jealous lover in a twisted murder-suicide.

The bizarre events of Orton's true life and death, however, pale in comparison to the plot of this fantastical play, where the line between sanity and psychosis is blotted out past all recognition. It begins with Dr. Prentice (David Waller, '00), a country-sanitarium psychiatrist who attempts to seduce his naive secretary (Kate Taylor, '01) with such subtle lines as, "Take off your stockings; I wish to see what effect your stepmother's death has had on your legs." An unexpected entrance by his nymphomaniac wife (Stephanie Smith, '98) leaves the doctor flustered and the secretary undressed. It is soon revealed that Mrs. Prentice herself is similarly unclothed, having been sexually assaulted by (orbeen assaulting?) a bellhop (James Carmichael, '01), who subsequently enters and manages to also become undressed. Bring into the confusion an overzealous Psychiatric Commissioner of the British Parliament ("Dr. Groves", Brendan Greaves, '00) and a doltish Police Sergeant (Will Burke, '99), and soon more than half the cast is running around naked and all are certifiably insane.

The logistics of having so many characters half-mad and hiding from each other must have been a nightmare to coordinate. Nevertheless, the Loeb Ex production does a splendid job, especially considering the small performance space with which they have to work. Set Designer John Gordan '01 manages to create a maze of fourdoorways and an onstage discovery space throughwhich the actors may roam--and all within theconfines of a theater the size of a Harvard commonroom. Although the audience near the back issometimes forced to stand in order to see some ofthe downstage scruffling, it is more a testamentto the engrossing action than to the use of thestage. The onstage room itself is tastefullydecorated with paintings of naked women by thelikes of Rubens or Gauguin, as would be expectedof any respectable Freudian psychiatrist's officeof the 1960s.

This tasteful display provides a directcontrast with the outrageous antics occurringonstage. Indeed, this production of Butleris explicitly clear about conveying Orton'soffhand trivializations of incest, alcoholism andbrawny naked men. The characters become undressedas spontaneously as they walk onstage and wheneverthey do manage to redress themselves, it is alwayswith someone else's clothing, and that someone isalways of the opposite sex. This focus on theroaring sex drives of the usually staid Britishgives the audience a voyeuristic thrill inwatching the play. In addition, the number ofphallic jokes that abound in this play are enoughalone to give Freud reason for existence. Withfrenzied movements of calculated theatrical flair,the cast manages to eke out a even a few moreexaggerated and oversexualized actions than themultitude that the script itself provides. Inparticular, Burke, as Seargant Match, does ahilariously comical performance while describinghis efforts to recover that body part of WinstonChurchill which had been importunely stolen.Greaves and Smith are equally proficient inmilking every melodramatic funny bone in theaudience with their overactive (if repressed)sexual drives. However, the production takentogether as a clumped mass of sexual innuendoperhaps goes overboard on this front. It is inthis aspect that the production becomes in dangerof approximating not Oscar Wilde, but that otherEnglishman of perhaps more dubious fame, BennyHill.

Meanwhile, Waller, as the bumbling psychiatristwho is the creator of the mess, is at his bestwhen he is pushed to the edge of frustration anddespair. It is wonderful to watch his anguishedlooks of confusion suddenly take coherence as hecomes up with another cockamamie scheme to dighimself out of the hole he is unwittinglyenlarging. Smith's innocent, if somewhatslow-witted naivete plays well against thebackground of madmen into which she is unwittinglydropped. And Carmichael all but exudesgood-nature; his portrayal of the delightfullycorrupt bellboy is such that would charm the pantsoff any man... err...woman.

However, by concentrating so much on the sexualdeviances of the characters, a further dimensionof intellectual social commentary beyond thesubject of sex is lost. Orton's play, whileadmittedly poking fun at society's ridiculousapprehensions towards sex, also engages on a levelof social, democratic and metaphysical discourse.This plane is too easily lost in the muddle ofsexual farce as entertainment. But despite theirnarrow focus, the Loeb Ex production of Butlerclearly succeeds at least on this level--it istruly a hilarious and frolicking show.CrimsonLinda S. CuckovichNaked hi-jinks abound in Orton farce

This tasteful display provides a directcontrast with the outrageous antics occurringonstage. Indeed, this production of Butleris explicitly clear about conveying Orton'soffhand trivializations of incest, alcoholism andbrawny naked men. The characters become undressedas spontaneously as they walk onstage and wheneverthey do manage to redress themselves, it is alwayswith someone else's clothing, and that someone isalways of the opposite sex. This focus on theroaring sex drives of the usually staid Britishgives the audience a voyeuristic thrill inwatching the play. In addition, the number ofphallic jokes that abound in this play are enoughalone to give Freud reason for existence. Withfrenzied movements of calculated theatrical flair,the cast manages to eke out a even a few moreexaggerated and oversexualized actions than themultitude that the script itself provides. Inparticular, Burke, as Seargant Match, does ahilariously comical performance while describinghis efforts to recover that body part of WinstonChurchill which had been importunely stolen.Greaves and Smith are equally proficient inmilking every melodramatic funny bone in theaudience with their overactive (if repressed)sexual drives. However, the production takentogether as a clumped mass of sexual innuendoperhaps goes overboard on this front. It is inthis aspect that the production becomes in dangerof approximating not Oscar Wilde, but that otherEnglishman of perhaps more dubious fame, BennyHill.

Meanwhile, Waller, as the bumbling psychiatristwho is the creator of the mess, is at his bestwhen he is pushed to the edge of frustration anddespair. It is wonderful to watch his anguishedlooks of confusion suddenly take coherence as hecomes up with another cockamamie scheme to dighimself out of the hole he is unwittinglyenlarging. Smith's innocent, if somewhatslow-witted naivete plays well against thebackground of madmen into which she is unwittinglydropped. And Carmichael all but exudesgood-nature; his portrayal of the delightfullycorrupt bellboy is such that would charm the pantsoff any man... err...woman.

However, by concentrating so much on the sexualdeviances of the characters, a further dimensionof intellectual social commentary beyond thesubject of sex is lost. Orton's play, whileadmittedly poking fun at society's ridiculousapprehensions towards sex, also engages on a levelof social, democratic and metaphysical discourse.This plane is too easily lost in the muddle ofsexual farce as entertainment. But despite theirnarrow focus, the Loeb Ex production of Butlerclearly succeeds at least on this level--it istruly a hilarious and frolicking show.CrimsonLinda S. CuckovichNaked hi-jinks abound in Orton farce