Farce meets fear in Orton's minor Crimes of Passion

Ruffian on the Stair, The Erpingham Camp

Greenwich Playhouse

THE premature death of Joe Orton, at the age of 43, has meant that his enforcibly shortened oeuvre has been thoroughly plundered, and lesser works that might otherwise have faded into relative obscurity have acquired perhaps undue significance.

If proof were needed, there are two current productions of Orton's early radio play, The Ruffian on the Stair, one at the Old Red Lion in Islington, and this one at Greenwich, paired with The Erpingham Camp as Crimes of Passion. The double bill was first seen at the Royal Court in 1967, months before the author's untimely demise at the hands of his jealous lover.

Ruffian finds us most definitely in Pinter country, both physically - it's set in a grimy flat where former boxer Mike disappears on vaguely dodgy missions and has an undefined relationship with nervy ex-prostitute Joyce - and psychologically, as a mysterious interloper talks his way into the flat, trailing torment and menace in his wake.

Gents' hairdresser Wilson (Louis Tamone, a touch too boyish in the role), with his smiley insinuation and sexual ambivalence, prefigures the Mr Sloane of Orton's next and most critically acclaimed play.

Peter Warnock's bulky, bellicose Mike is much more scary. Amid the threats, there are outbreaks of Ortonesque humour: as gunshots are fired, Joyce squeals concern for her pet goldfish. Mike retorts: "What do you want to keep fish in the bedroom for? It's not hygienic!"

This combination of farce and fear make for slightly clunky bedfellows in Clare Prenton's production for the Galleon Theatre Company.

She's on surer footing, though, with The Erpingham Camp, which bristles with Orton's trademark distaste for authority and his debunking of religion, sexual misdemeanour and anarchy.

It's an overtly political piece, too, as the campers run amok against the fascistic regime of Adam Tabraham's Erpingham, though the highlights here are the cheesily chirpy theme music and the jollyhockey sticks rendition of Rock Around the Clock by the hapless redcoats.

. Until 2 February.

Information: 020 8858 9256.

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