Diary Of A Somebody Review – Seven Dials Playhouse
“I’ve high hopes of dying young” says young playwright Joe Orton. An ironic statement as he was brutally murdered at the age of 34 by the person closest to him. Staged for the first time in 35 years, Diary Of A Somebody chronicles the last eight months of Joe Orton’s. Taken verbatim from Orton’s private and sexually explicit diaries, the show tracks his growing celebrity alongside his relationship with Kenneth Halliwell. Friend, mentor and sometimes lover, Kenneth murdered Joe on 9th August 1967 before taking his own life.
Joe Orton became famous after writing a string of scandalous black comedies that shocked, outraged, and amused audience. He would entertain himself by writing complaints about his own plays under the alias of Edna Wellthorpe (Mrs). George Kemp took on the role of Joe Orton and effortlessly portrayed the cheerful, playful but overconfident playwright. His success was short-lived though due to the jealousy and insecurities of Kenneth Halliwell. Played by Toby Osmond, he masterfully portrayed the spiral of depression that Halliwell had found himself in. The envy that was simmering under the surface, the feelings of resentment, Osmond brought these feelings to life on stage.
Diary Of A Somebody has a cast of six, with four of the cast taking on nearly fifty minor character roles. These characters were taken on by Jemma Churchill, Sorcha Kennedy, Ryan Rajan Mal, and Jamie Zubairi. There were times when accents faded mid-sentence and momentum wasn’t quite as strong. But overall, how can you fault someone taking on so many roles in such a short space of time. As it’s told in diary format some characters only appear on stage to deliver one line. It made some scene changes, entrances, and exits feel laboured and cluttered.
I enjoyed Diary Of A Somebody and getting more of an insight into the lives of Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell. However, I was disappointed to find that the conclusion we all knew was coming happened off stage. The show comes with a warning that the attitudes of the play were held by Orton but do not represent the attitudes of the show’s producers or the theatre. I imagine that Joe Orton would be thrilled to know that his story would still be seen as scandalous so many years later. I can guarantee that Edna Wellthorpe (Mrs) would be first in line to give her opinion on it. Diary Of A Somebody is playing at Seven Dials Playhouse until 30th April.
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Photo Credit: Brittain Photography
