''Funeral Games'' is a 50-minute television play by

Joe Orton John Kingsley Orton (1 January 1933 – 9 August 1967), known by the pen name of Joe Orton, was an English playwright, author, and diarist. His public career, from 1964 until his murder in 1967 committed by his partner, was short but highly i ...

. Along with Orton's ''The Good and Faithful Servant'', the play was originally written for the

Associated Rediffusion Associated-Rediffusion, later Rediffusion London, was the British ITV franchise holder for London and parts of the surrounding counties, on weekdays between 22 September 1955 and 29 July 1968. It was the first ITA franchisee to go on air, ...

series ''Seven Deadly Virtues'', the sequel to its earlier ''Seven Deadly Sins'', which had included his ''

The Erpingham Camp ''The Erpingham Camp'' (1966) is a 52-minute television play by Joe Orton, which was later performed on stage. The play was originally produced by Associated-Rediffusion for inclusion in the ''Seven Deadly Sins'' series, representing pride. Dire ...

''. ''Funeral Games'' followed the general format of the other plays by other writers in the series, in that viewers were expected to decide which virtue they were witnessing before the answer was revealed in the closing credits. The choices were courage, faith, hope, prudence, justice, charity, and temperance. ''The Good And Faithful Servant'' and ''Funeral Games'' represented faith and justice respectively, but ultimately only the first was included in the series, with the justice episode being ''The Whole Truth'' by John Bowen. Both were directed by James Ormerod, who had previously handled ''The Erpingham Camp''. The ''Funeral Games'' script eventually passed to

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

, which produced it - along with an adaptation ''

Entertaining Mr Sloane ''Entertaining Mr Sloane'' is a three-act play written in 1963 by the English playwright Joe Orton. It was first produced in London at the New Arts Theatre on 6 May 1964 and transferred to the West End's Wyndham's Theatre on 29 June 1964. Pl ...

'' - as contributions to the ''Playhouse'' series. ''Sloane'' (directed by

Peter Moffatt Peter Moffatt (15 April 1922 – 21 October 2007) was an English television director. His work includes '' Crane'' (1963), '' Breaking Point'', '' All Creatures Great and Small'' (1978) and ''The Gentle Touch'' (1980). He also directed the B ...

) was broadcast on 15 July 1968, and ''Games'' (directed by Ormerod) on 26 August 1968, both post-dating Orton's death. Both these plays still exist. The play can be seen as a satire on the theme of Christian charity. It is also an attack on hypocrisy in general, and on religion and middle-class morality in particular. It displays Orton's hallmarks of black humour, outrageous characters, deliberate bad taste, and surreal situations.

Plot

Cult leader, preacher, and con-artist Pringle hires thuggish criminal Caulfield to investigate an anonymous report that his wife Tess is having an affair with a defrocked Catholic priest. It seems that the report is mistaken, and Tess' visits to the priest McCorquodale are innocent. However, McCorquodale has killed his own wife and buried her in the cellar. Pringle still wishes to kill Tess, but instead tells people she has 'gone away', a classic ploy used when one has killed one's wife. His intention is to gain respect as a killer. Tess agrees to live out of sight with McCorquodale. Pringle's plans are in danger of being ruined when a reporter threatens his new reputation by suspecting that Tess is not dead at all, and accuses Pringle of being innocent.

Cast

* Michael Denison - Pringle *

Vivien Merchant Ada Brand Thomson (22 July 1929 – 3 October 1982), known professionally as Vivien Merchant, was an English actress. She began her career in 1942, and became known for dramatic roles on stage and in films. In 1956 she married the playwright Ha ...

- Tessa *

Ian McShane Ian David McShane (born 29 September 1942) is an English actor. His television performances include the title role in the BBC series ''Lovejoy'' (1986–1994), Al Swearengen in '' Deadwood'' (2004–2006) and its 2019 film continuation, and M ...

- Caulfield *

Bill Fraser William Simpson Fraser (5 June 1908 – 9 September 1987) was a Scottish actor who appeared on stage, screen and television for many years. In 1986 he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for his stage role in the play '' ...

- McCorquodale

Production history

Orton wrote ''Funeral Games'' in several drafts between July and November 1966, a period of intense productivity for him. ''Funeral Games'' is considered to be the transitional play between '' Loot'' and '' What the Butler Saw''. In common with much of Orton's work, ''Funeral Games'' was regarded as very shocking in England on its first production. The script of the play was first published by Methuen (Modern Plays series, 1970), and the play has enjoyed long-term popularity with amateur and fringe theatre companies in England. There was a

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

production in 2008.

References

External links

* {{Joe Orton 1968 plays Plays by Joe Orton Black comedy plays British television plays