Screenplay to John Lahr's successful dramatization of The Orton Diaries that chronicles the last eight months of Joe Orton's life, his growing theatrical celebrity, and the corresponding punishing effect it had on his relationship with his friend and mentor Kenneth Halliwell, who murdered him on August 9, 1967, and then took his own life.

Wallace Shawn usually appears in our mind's eye as the consummate eccentric actor: the shy literature teacher in Clueless, the diabolically rational villain in The Princess Bride, or as the eponymous protagonist of Vanya on 42nd Street. This title offers a personal look into the life and literary work of this man.

In five dexterously argued chapters, John Lahr investigates all the major plays and many of Nel Coward's lesser-known pieces."