What the Butler Saw (play)

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What the Butler Saw is a play by Joe Orton first produced on March 5, 1969, in London. The first public performance of WTBS - almost two years after Orton’s brutal murder - was reportedly barracked with cries of "filth!"^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Plot

The play consists of two acts, and revolves around a Dr Prentice, a psychiatrist attempting to seduce his prospective secretary, Geraldine Barclay. The play therefore opens with the doctor examining the beautiful Gerladine Barclay in a job interview. He convinces her to undress as part of the interview. The situation becomes more intense during Dr Prentice's supposed "interview" with Geraldine Barclay when Mrs Prentice enters. When his wife enters, he attempts to cover up his activity by hiding the girl behind a curtain. His wife however is also being seduced and blackmailed by Nicholas Beckett. She therefore promises him the post as secretary, which adds further confusion.

Dr Prentice's clinic is then faced by a government inspection. The inspection, led by Dr Rance, reveals the chaos in the clinic.

[edit] Analysis

The play incoporates a combination of British dry humour and seamier contents. For example, at one point, the police sergeant (a staple of this genre) says, "During that period he is alleged to have misconducted himself with a party of school children." Later, the sergeant accuses "Marriage excuses no one from the freaks roll-call." At the same time, it is typical of the style:

Mrs. Prentice: "You told Dr. Rance that she was burning the golliwogs. Was that a lie?"

Prentice: "It may have been. I can’t remember."

In Act II, Doctor Rance talks about how he will use the situation to develop a new book. "The final chapters of my book are knitting together: incest, buggery, outrageous women and strange love-cults catering for depraved appetites. All the fashionable bric-a-brac."

In addition, the play includes a number of farces. It opens with a doctor examining a beautiful young girl in a job interview. He convinces her to undress as part of the interview. When his wife enters, he attempts to cover up his activity by hiding the girl behind a curtain. With this, the farce is off and running. Soon, the girl is dressed like a boy and a boy is dressed like a girl, Winston Churchill is missing body parts and the doctor is digging himself further and further into trouble by piling up more and more ridiculous lies. A notable part of the dialogue in this act includes the following:

Prentice: "I'm not mad. It only looks that way."

Rance: "Your actions today would get the Archbishop of Canterbury declared non-compos."

Prentice: "I'm not the Archbishop of Canterbury."

Rance: "That will come at a later stage of your illness."

It could be argued that the social change that Dr Prentice’s psychology is drawn against manifests itself throughout the play, in particular social attitudes towards sexuality.

It can be argued that the play is a story about the way men and women feel and communicate, and their desire for power. For example, one of Orton’s characters calls it a “Graeco-Roman hallucination”. The on-stage visions take their themes from the old tragedies. Caligula and Jocasta rest comfortably together in the genealogy of the farce. Cinema-goers will recognise situations used by Orton’s contemporaries, the Carry On comedians of the late 1960s. For example, Carry On Doctor was showing whilst the play was being written in 1967.

[edit] See also