Joe Orton farce What the Butler Saw on its way to Cambridge Arts Theatre
Completed shortly before he died, What the Butler Saw is one of celebrated playwright Joe Orton’s best-known plays – though it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.
Starting its run this Wednesday (17 July) at the Cambridge Arts Theatre, the play stars Alex Cardall as Nicholas Beckett, John Dorney as Doctor Prentice, and Holly Smith as his wife Mrs Prentice.
Described as “Orton’s most ambitious play, manic farce and masterclass in fearless comic writing”, the piece comes with a ‘trigger warning’, so anyone who may be offended by its adult content is advised to stay away!
Speaking to the Cambridge Independent from Malvern (the play has been touring the country since the end of April), Holly Smith says it’s been going well but reveals that, due to its themes, it has received a “mixed response” at times.
“It is quite an unusual play,” she explains, “I don’t know if you know any of Joe Orton’s work, but this is one of the last plays he wrote before he sadly died [Orton was murdered at the age of 34 by his lover, Kenneth Halliwell, in their Islington flat].
“He died in 1967, which was the same year he wrote this play, and it was not even finalised. I think it was the final draft of What the Butler Saw...
“But I feel that it is just one of the most incredible plays. Personally, I love it but I don’t think it’s for everyone’s taste.
“I think you have to kind of take it as it is; you can’t start looking too deeply into it, you can’t start looking too deeply into the themes – I mean it covers everything, from politics to gender swapping…
“And some audiences have absolutely loved it and have walked away thinking ‘This is hysterical, this is brilliant fun’, and then we’ve had other people that it’s shocked – and I think he did write it to shock people.
“I think he wrote it with that in mind; he was ahead of his time when he wrote this play, and I think he wanted to make people go ‘Oh my God, wow! I can’t believe you’ve actually said those things!’
“But I think in a way it kind of works – even now. A lot of the themes in this play are very current to what’s going on in the world at the moment.
“And yeah, some audiences have absolutely loved it and others have been a little bit offended – which Joe wouldn’t have minded either!”
Holly observes that despite its content, “there’s not one swear word” in the play.
She adds: “I think his [Joe Orton’s] writing is so brilliant, and it’s so wordy and so well-written, it’s just a joy to perform it.
“And I think if the actors are enjoying it, the audience start to really enjoy it as well, especially towards the end of the play because it’s like a roller coaster of just everything – people taking their clothes off, doors slamming, it’s got everything… and it just gets faster and faster towards the crescendo at the end.
“I think it’s brilliant but we’ve had a very mixed response – but mainly positive.”
Is What the Butler Saw a play that Holly has been familiar with for a while?
“Yes, I actually read it and auditioned for it – to understudy two of the female roles – in about 2012, in the West End,” she replies.
“Samantha Bond was playing the role I’m playing now, so I was familiar with it because I studied it for that audition.
“I must have been in my early 30s when I auditioned and I remember thinking ‘This is amazing’ and I just really loved it.
“So since then I’ve always been interested and read a lot of his plays, but before that I wasn’t really aware of him at all…
“So when I got the opportunity to do this play, to do it when I’m probably about the right age now to play the character, I was really keen to do it because for the last 10 years I’ve been really desperate to do a Joe Orton play.”
On her character, Mrs Prentice, Holly says: “She is quite an interesting character; in the blurb it says she’s a nymphomaniac, she’s an alcoholic…
“She’s quite a waspish character, that’s the way I describe her, she’s very clever, she’s very manipulative – but there is also a vulnerability underneath all that, which I’ve started finding with the character now.
“She is quite haughty and she knows who she is. She’s a very strong woman, but there is this underlying vulnerability that makes her a bit more interesting as a character, rather than just this madam who actually gets drunker and drunker as the show goes along.
“I’ve found it quite a journey playing this role; the more we do it, the more I find different things in her. I’ve so enjoyed playing her – she’s quite a woman, Mrs Prentice!”
Holly trained at the Guildford School of Acting and is a very experienced theatre actress (though she has also done some film and TV), with numerous credits to her name.
“I’ve done a lot of tours over the last 10 years, I’d say,” she notes, “various different types of plays though.
“I mean the last one I did here [in Malvern] was an Agatha Christie, called The Mirror Crack'd, which was quite different to the one I’m doing now.
“I’ve done other things like Flare Path, a Terence Rattigan tour – that was another one – and I did Shadowlands in Malvern as well, which was a beautiful play.”
Holly has a real affection for one genre in particular. “I love comedy,” she says, “if I had a choice of the roles I want to play, I’m always drawn to comedy – I find it exhilarating.
“There’s nothing better than being on a stage with an audience when they’re laughing, just having that response – and hopefully they do laugh, they don’t always laugh!
“Tragedy’s good too, I just think as a performer I really do enjoy getting that feedback from an audience, with laughter.
“It brings everyone together and I find it very uplifting and positive.”
What the Butler Saw starts on Wednesday at the Cambridge Arts Theatre and runs until Saturday (20 July). Tickets, priced £20-£35, are available at cambridgeartstheatre.com.