The 48 Laws Of Power

TRANSGRESSIONOFTHELAW

Joe

OrtonmetKennethHalliwellatthe

RoyalAcademy

ofDramatic

Arts,

London,

in

1953,

wherebothhadenrolledas

acting

students.

They

soon

becameloversandmovedin

together.

Halliwell,

twenty—five

atthe

time,

wasseven

years

olderthan

Orton,

andseemedthemoreconfidentofthe

two;

butneitherhadmuchtalentas

actors,

andafter

graduating,having

set~

tied

down

together

inadankLondon

apartment,they

decidedto

giveup

acting

and collaborate as writers instead. Halliwell’s inheritance was

enough

to

keep

themfrom

having

tofindwork

for

a

few

years,

andinthe

beginning,

hewasalsothe

driving

forcebehindthestoriesandnovels

they

wrote;

hewoulddictate

to

Orton,

who

would

type

the

manuscripts,

occa~

sionallyinterjecting

his

own

lines

andideas.Theirfirsteffortsattracted

someinterestfrom

literaryagents,

butit

sputtered.

The

promisethey

had

shownwas

leading

nowhere.

Eventually

theinheritance

money

ran

out,

andthe

pair

hadtolookfor

work.Their

collaborationswerelessenthusiasticandless

frequent.

Thefu~

turelookedbleak.

In 1957 Orton

began

towriteonhis

own,

butitwasn’tuntilfive

years

later,

whentheloverswere

jailed

forsixmonthsfor

defacing

dozensofli-

brary

books,

thathe

began

tofindhisvoice

(perhaps

not

by

chance:This

was

thefirsttimeheandHalliwell

had

been

separated

innine

years).

He

cameout

of

prison

determinedto

express

his

contempt

for

Englishsociety

intheform

of

theatricalfarces.HeandHalliwellmovedback

in

together,

butnowtheroleswerereversed:Ortondidthe

writing

whileHalliwell

put

incommentsandideas.

In 1964

joe

Orton

completed

hisfirst

full-lengthplay,Entertaining

Mr.

Sloane.The

play

madeittoLondon’sWest

End,

where

it

receivedbrilliant

reviews:A

great

newwriterhad

emerged

fromnowhere.Nowsuccessfol-

lowed

siccess,

ata

dizzying

pace.

In 1966 Ortonhadahitwithhis

play

Loot,

andhis

popularity

soared.Sooncommissionscameinfromall

sides,

including

fromthe

Beatles,

who

paid

Orton

handsomely

towritethem

a

film

script

Everything

was

pointingupwards,everythingexcept

Orton’srelation»

ship

withKennethHalliwell.The

pair

stilllived

together,

butasOrton

grew

successful,

Halliwell

began

todeteriorate.

Watching

hisloverbecome

thecenter

of

attention,

hesufferedthehumiliationof

becoming

akindof

personal

assistant

to

the

playwright,

hisrolein

whathad

oncebeen

a

col-

laboration

growing

smallerandsmaller.Inthel950shehad

supported

Ortonwithhis

inheritance;

now Orton

supported

him.Ata

party

or

among

friends,

people

would

naturallygravitate

towardsOrton-—hewas

charming,

andhismoodwasalmost

alwaysbuoyant

Unlikethehandsome

Orton,

Halliwellwasbaldand

awkward;

hisdefensivenessmade

people

wanttoavoidhim.

WithOrton’ssuccessthe

couple‘sproblemsonly

worsened.Halliwell’s

moods

made

theirlife

togetherimpossible.

Orton

claimed

to

want

toleave

him,

andhad

numerous

affairs,

but

would

always

end

upreturning

to

his

‘xiii-:m1miu.t)r“ml—;

(§RHliil\'MAN/\\I)THIC

l'I,VVI(JliS

M/\l\

A

greedy

manandan

enviuur[mmmeta

king.

The

king

said

to

them.

“One

(Ifyounmy

ask

mmetlxing

of

me

andIwill

give

It:1)

him,

proviriewl

I

give

twiceasmuchtothe

other."Theenvious

person

didnotwantto

ask

firstfor

heWm:

envious

of

his

campam

ionwhowouldreceive

Iwzrrtas

much,

andIke

greedy

mandidnot

want 10 ask

first

since

he

wanted

everytlzing

thatwastobehad.

Finally

the

greedy

one

Llresred

the

enviousone

lobe

the_lirs‘I

tomake

the

request.

30 theenvi-

ous

person

askedthe

king

to

pluck

outone

oflriseyes.

JEWISHPARABLIS.

rm“.SEVFN

l)EADl‘r'

53525,

SOLOMONSCKIIMMEL,

1992

An

admtrerwho

feels

thatheczmrzotbe

lltlppybysurrendering

hitrzsel

f

electsto

btrconzcenvious

of

that

wlzicliheuciznirm.So

he

spellks

tinuilier

languagewilze(long

whichhe

really

admire:

iscalled

a

stupid.

insipizl

and

qm>r:r.rr:ri

ofilzing.

Admimrionis

happy.s‘elf-Surrender;

envy

is

unhappymalf-

ass:-rrian.

SdizeuK1euiu~;uAAiw.

l 81 3-1

855

LAW 45

'

401