A lesser known Joe Orton play was the incentive for a long overdue visit to the Hope Theatre in Islington. I’m guessing most people wouldn’t be able to name more than three of his plays; Joe Orton actually wrote nine that have at some point been performed on stage. So I’m fairly certain The Ruffian on the Stair is one of the six you don’t know. It was originally written as a radio play and first broadcast by the BBC ...

Not the finished article, but full of potential