Joe Orton lived and died here

Macabre comic and playwright Joe Orton lived and died here.

Location: 25 Noel Road, Islington, London

Description: The playwright Joe Orton (1933-67) lived here from 1960 where he had a stormy relationship with his lover, Kenneth Halliwell.

Orton was celebrated for anarchic plays such as Loot and What the Butler Saw, but his personal life was fraught with the jealousy of Halliwell at his success and of Orton's promiscuous relations elsewhere.

A lack of serious work led them to amuse themselves with pranks and hoaxes. In 1962 they were jailed for taking books out the Islington library and defacing them in an amusing manner.

In August 1967 Halliwell battered Orton to death with a hammer and then took his own life with a Nembutal overdose.

Themes: Theatre Theatre Theme