Entertaining Mr. Sloane

play by Orton

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June 26, 2026

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Entertaining Mr. Sloane is a 1964 play by British playwright Joe Orton. It is described as an outrageous and unconventional black comedy that scandalized audiences with its examination of moral corruption, violence, and sexual rapacity. The play is noted for its epigrammatic wit and the way its characters react with comic propriety to scandalous and disturbing situations. Orton's career was tragically cut short when he was murdered by his companion in 1967. Entertaining Mr. Sloane is considered one of Orton's three full-length plays, alongside Loot and What the Butler Saw.1

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Joe Orton
His three full-length plays, Entertaining Mr. Sloane (1964), Loot (1965), and What the Butler Saw (produced posthumously, 1969), were outrageous and unconventional black comedies that scandalized audiences with their examination of moral corruption, violence, and sexual rapacity. Orton’s writing was marked by epigrammatic wit and an incongruous polish, his…
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His three full-length plays, Entertaining Mr. Sloane (1964), Loot (1965), and What the Butler Saw (produced posthumously, 1969), were outrageous and unconventional black comedies that scandalized audiences with their examination of moral corruption, violence, and sexual rapacity. Orton’s writing was marked by epigrammatic wit and an incongruous polish, his…
Read More

English literature
Drama
Joe Orton’s anarchic black comedies—Entertaining Mr. Sloane (1964), Loot (1967), and What the Butler Saw (1969)—put theatrical procedures pioneered by Pinter at the service of outrageous sexual farce (something for which Pinter himself also showed a flair in television plays such as The Lover [1963] and later stage works…
Read More
Joe Orton’s anarchic black comedies—Entertaining Mr. Sloane (1964), Loot (1967), and What the Butler Saw (1969)—put theatrical procedures pioneered by Pinter at the service of outrageous sexual farce (something for which Pinter himself also showed a flair in television plays such as The Lover [1963] and later stage works…
Read More