About the Play:

Nasty Little Secrets is full-length black comedy by Lanie Robertson. It's a black, sexy, tragicomedy about the life and untimely, violent death of famous British playwright Joe Orton, up-and-coming enfant terrible of the London theatre, at the hands of his mentor-turned-murderer Kenneth Halliwell.

Nasty Little Secrets is based on the real life story of a witty gay playwright who got on fabulously in London social circles, despite his pronounced sexuality. Alas, he came to a bad end and became more famous – and respected – in death than in life. Joe Orton satirized the nasty secrets behind middle class propriety in such classics as What the Butler Saw and Loot. This is his story – the tale of a scruffy, poorly educated lad and an older man who saw in him the soul and talent of a comic poet. Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell lived a bohemian existence until they were arrested for playfully defacing library books. Afterward, their relationship deteriorated as Orton's star began to rise. Halliwell's resentment was so consuming that he killed Orton and himself. Nasty Little Secrets is a powerful, dramatic story told with humour and compassion, which will challenge, sadden and amuse right until the final, quirky twist, creating a play that could have been written by Joe Orton himself.

Nasty Little Secrets premiered in 1987 at the historic Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. The play had its New York premiere in 1988 Off-Broadway at Primary Stages.

Cast: 4 men

What people say:

"I don't think you'll see a better play ... this season." — New York Post

"The play, which chronicles the events that preceded the murder of the celebrated British dramatist Joe Orton, is a corrosive study of blossoming genius and escalating rivalry." — Los Angeles Times

"It is sad. It is also wickedly funny. This is terrific theatre." — New York Post

About the Playwright:

Lanie Robertson is an American playwright, actor, and educator, best known for his brilliant one woman plays, including Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, the story of Bille Holliday. Many of his plays were produced in Philadelphia, where he also taught literature and play-writing at the Philadelphia College of Art during the 1970s. He has written over 30 plays for regional and Off-Broadway theater. His plays have been produced in New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia, and in towns in Virginia, Alaska, and Maine. Internationally, his work has been produced in Canada, England, France, Australia, and Japan.