It was a rather less sodden evening in every sense of the word than the last book club meeting and a small but animated and vocal turnout to talk about Entertaining Mr Sloane by Joe Orton. The play is set in England and details Mr Sloane who moves in to share a house with Kath and her father. Kath's brother, Ed, appears regularly as the story unfolds and heads towards its sordid ending where Sloane winds up as Kath and Ed's shared plaything in sexual servitude. It was considered outrageous at the time because of the explicit homosexual content during a time when homosexuality was illegal in Britain.
The discussion was lively and jumped around between talking about the motivations of the characters, the language used in the play and the play's reception. It was a very good choice. I thought.
At one stage one of the club's rules was broken when I (Ben) mentioned a certain jug-eared leader of the (then) opposition. When we quite amused as we read back over the book club's rules.
Next month we're reading Wildlife by Richard Ford. I haven't heard of the book or its author so I'm keen to see what it holds. It's also a film for those who might care to watch that (as well as reading the book of course ...). See you at The All Nations again on April 3.
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