The Good and Faithful Servant

The Good and Faithful Servant is a darkly comic television play by the English playwright Joe Orton.[1] It was originally written in 1964 and was filmed for British television by the company Associated-Rediffusion for ITV as part of the Seven Deadly Sins anthology series, shortly before author Joe Orton's murder in 1967.[1][2][3]

The Good and Faithful Servant
Written byJoe Orton
CharactersBuchanan, Edith, Mrs. Vealfoy
Date premiered1967
Place premieredEngland
Original languageEnglish

The play was later performed theatrically.[1] A production directed by Fred Proud was performed at the King's Head Theatre in Islington, London in 1971.[4]

A Canadian adaptation, aired in 1975 as an episode of the CBC Television anthology series Performance, starred Cyril Cusack and Helen Burns in the lead roles.[5]

Original television cast

Plot

Buchanan, a doorman who has worked at the same company for fifty years is close to retirement when he meets Edith, a cleaning woman, who turns out to be his former lover and, unbeknownst to him, mother of his twin sons. Buchanan destroys his retirement gifts after having reflected on a wasted life, and in the following scene we see Buchanan and Edith, whom he married, waking up in bed together. Whilst she happily natters away Buchanan, tears running down his cheeks, closes his eyes and silently dies in bed next to her.[6]

References
  1. Goodman, Walter (13 February 1988). "Stage: 'Faithful Servant,' A Mild Joe Orton Work". The New York Times.
  2. "The Good and Faithful Servant (1967)". BFI. Archived from the original on 29 September 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  3. "Joe Orton Life and Work". www.joeorton.org. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  4. Morrison, Matt (23 March 2018). "Soho Theatre | putting lunchtime theatre back on the menu". The Stage. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  5. "Wide range of drama in spotlight". Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, December 6, 1974.
  6. Coppa, Francesca (2003). Joe Orton: A Casebook. Psychology Press. pp. 21–25. ISBN 9780815336273.


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