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her, despite having found and aimed the gun at her head. Mike returns, and a distraught Joyce relates the story. Typically, Mike tells Joyce she's overreacting and actually sympathizes with the young man, much to Joyce's astonishment and aggravation. The next day, when Joyce is left alone with her thoughts, a series of sudden, violent noises emanate from the stairs outside their apartment door and the rest of the building (including broken windows, a broken lock, and the sound of a man urinating on the floorboards). She pleads loudly for the perpetrator to stop, which they finally do by the end of the scene but not after a prolonged aural torture for Joyce. Naturally, she assumes it is Wilson, and, upon relating this incident to Mike, she is met with a similar lack of support.
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days as a prostitute; in fact, it was Frank who had sex with Joyce (and other women) during his relationship with Wilson. The following day, Mike leaves the flat wracked with jealousy, despite Joyce's protestations of innocence. Wilson arrives again, removing his trousers and wedging the door shut, in order that Mike—upon his return—will think that he's having sex with Joyce. As Joyce points out, the situation is absurd; Wilson is "only a little boy" (the script suggests he's 18), and to make the situation more ridiculous, Mike doesn't come home when expected. Wilson sadly concludes that he's failed at this just like everything else, and moves to get dressed; moved, however, Joyce puts her arms around him.
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One day while Joyce is alone, a young and attractive man named Wilson arrives, asking for a room. During the conversation, he terrifies and threatens her, demanding to know where Mike's gun is. It becomes clear that he has been watching the flat for some time. Nevertheless, he leaves without harming
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It's at this point that Mike returns. Enraged, he shoots twice, killing Wilson with the second shot. Wilson survives long enough to reiterate his wish to be buried with Frank, then collapses. Mike and Joyce are both horrified by what has happened, but Joyce recovers quickly, planning what they'll
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affair. Wilson is damaged, grief-stricken, and after revenge; an unusual revenge, however, as he seeks to be shot by Mike ("I don't wanna be injured. I want to be dead") in order to rejoin Frank. To goad Mike into the killing, he claims to be having sex with Joyce, and to have known her since her
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ancestry, religious conviction, and his own considerable personal charms. During the conversation, the audience learns that Mike's last "job" was to kill Wilson's beloved elder brother Frank, with whom Wilson had been engaged in an
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tell the police. Suddenly, they notice that the first shot from Mike's gun knocked over Joyce's goldfish bowl, killing the fish inside. Both of them are far more upset about the goldfish than the dead boy, and thus the play ends.
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339:. Publications de la Maison des sciences de l'homme d'Aquitaine. Vol. 151. Presses Univ de Bordeaux. p. 67.
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Moya Jones-Petithomme (1990). "Gorilla in the Roses". In
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couple living in a bedsit. Mike is a self-described "derelict", ex-
481:"The Ruffian on the Stair by Joe Orton, Royal Court Theatre, 1966"
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415:"Unseen Joe Orton story The Visa Affair turned into radio play"
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When Wilson does turn up again, he charms Mike using a claimed
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Viollet-le-Duc et l'architecture selon les lois de la nature
89:. It is an unsympathetic yet comedic one-act portrayal of
375:"Books to give you hope: Prick Up Your Ears by John Lahr"
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436:. 31 August 1964. p. 29 – via BBC Genome.
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Still acting gay: male homosexuality in modern drama
142:Joyce: "You always go to such interesting places."
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360:"The Ruffian on the Stair/People With Problems"
306:broadcast a production of the play directed by
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394:. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 110.
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234:directed the play on stage at the
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513:"The Ruffian on the Stair (1973)"
448:"Feature: The plays of Joe Orton"
100:, a novel by Orton and his lover
495:"Crimes of Passion by Joe Orton"
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465:Mastoris, Strat (28 May 2013).
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620:The Ruffian on the Stair
539:The Ruffian on the Stair
303:ITV Sunday Night Theatre
285:Mike - Bernard Gallagher
256:Wilson - Kenneth Cranham
68:The Ruffian On the Stair
21:The Ruffian on the Stair
420:. Retrieved 2017-03-21.
380:. Retrieved 2017-03-21.
365:. Retrieved 2017-03-21.
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679:Entertaining Mr Sloane
612:Entertaining Mr Sloane
452:Sydney Theatre Company
274:Crimes of Passion cast
390:John M. Clum (2000).
106:William Ernest Henley
803:British radio dramas
499:www.petergill7.co.uk
137:King’s Cross station
738:The Boy Hairdresser
660:What the Butler Saw
523:on 17 October 2019.
242:Original stage cast
238:on 21 August 1966.
236:Royal Court Theatre
121:What the Butler Saw
98:The Boy Hairdresser
48:BBC Third Programme
813:Black comedy plays
798:Plays by Joe Orton
793:Plays about incest
765:Prick Up Your Ears
757:Prick Up Your Ears
636:The Erpingham Camp
263:The Erpingham Camp
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722:The Orton Diaries
454:. 23 August 2011.
268:Crimes of Passion
252:Bernard Gallagher
102:Kenneth Halliwell
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768:(2009 play)
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706:Head to Toe
671:Adaptations
310:, starring
296:Adaptations
281:Avril Elgar
788:1964 plays
782:Categories
698:Other work
322:References
314:as Joyce,
232:Peter Gill
191:incestuous
175:Protestant
161:thug from
76:playwright
26:Written by
581:Joe Orton
300:In 1973,
288:Wilson -
219:Wilson -
83:BBC Radio
79:Joe Orton
50:, England
30:Joe Orton
279:Joyce -
207:Joyce -
250:Mike -
213:Mike -
163:Donegal
110:Ruffian
94:England
73:British
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156:boxer
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