Gwen Taylor is to join Matt Lucas and Chris New in Simon Bent’s drama about playwright Joe Orton, Prick Up Your Ears, which starts previews at the Comedy theatre from 17 September.
Taylor, who plays Orton’s neighbour Mrs Corden in the three-hander, is well known for her television roles in series including Heartbeat, Barbara, Bit Of A Do, Belonging, Doc Martin and Fat Friends. In addition to numerous touring and regional theatre productions, Taylor’s London stage appearances include several productions at the Royal Court and the role of Gertrude to Stephen Dillane’s Hamlet in Peter Hall’s 1994 production at the Gielgud theatre.
Based on John Lahr’s biography and Orton’s diaries, Prick Up Your Ears charts the events that led up to the brutal murder of the notorious playwright by his lover Kenneth Halliwell in 1967. Beginning in 1962, New and Lucas play Orton and Halliwell, RADA graduates, aspiring playwrights and sometime lovers, who are plotting their place at the centre of London’s literary scene. After a stay in prison for ‘improving’ library books, Orton is about to become the greatest comic playwright since Oscar Wilde, while Ken remains indoors redecorating and taking tea with neighbour Mrs Cordon.
Prick Up Your Ears opens at the Comedy theatre following a short season for new musical Too Close To The Sun (16 July to 5 September) which dramatises the last days of another literary figure, Ernest Hemmingway.
CB