What the Butler Saw - Joe Orton

What the Butler Saw is definitely the pinnacle of Joe Orton's humour; it was the last play before he was brutally murdered one year later in 1970.
The storyline is far too difficult to explain, but in very vague summary, it concerns a series of mistaken identities and one-liners that happen in a psychiatrist's office when an adulterous seedy affair with his potential secretary goes horribly wrong.

The story begins with a traditional ...
...beginning the comedy, however the introduction of more characters and complications means the plot gets thicker and at points hard to follow but it also becomes more humorous by the minute. The farce becomes more and more riotously funny that will leave your sides hurting, and twist follows twist until the climactic end that makes a mockery of the obligatory resolution that occurs at the end of normal farces.

Throughout the story, ... more

What the Butler Saw is definitely the pinnacle of Joe Orton's humour; it was the last play before he was brutally murdered one year later in 1970.
The storyline is far too difficult to explain, but in very vague summary, it concerns a series of mistaken identities and one-liners that happen in a psychiatrist's office when an adulterous seedy affair with his potential secretary goes horribly wrong.

The story begins with a traditional back drop with a basic set up of mistaken identity beginning the comedy, however the introduction of more characters and complications means the plot gets thicker and at points hard to follow but it also becomes more humorous by the minute. The farce becomes more and more riotously funny that will leave your sides hurting, and twist follows twist until the climactic end that makes a mockery of the obligatory resolution that occurs at the end of normal farces.

Throughout the story, the comedy becomes darker and more sinister, encompassing the themes of rape, incest, adultery and the mal treatment of the mentally ill.
This is one of few books that has made me laugh out loud when reading it, and when I saw it performed on stage in london the whole audience laughed themselves hoarse and snorted like demented whales the whole way through. This is possibly best comic play this century and should easily measure up to Coward and Wilde in the greatest humour of all time.

i loved this book and would read it again, but i have to say i really enjoyed the play and would go see it again. were i got lost in places with the book it was more easyer to follow with the play. 

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