娛樂審查大人：喬•歐騰及其黑色喜劇

Entertaining the Lord Chamberlain: Joe Orton and His Black Comedy

本論文擬探討喬•歐騰的黑色喜劇在一九六○年代的驚嚇、激怒效果和意義。這位同性戀劇作家向來以其叛逆、玩世不恭的特質而聞名；運用黑色幽默，歐騰令當時的中產階級觀眾和英國社會感到震驚、憤怒。歐騰蓄意驚嚇、挑釁觀眾的結果曾受到學者的質疑。辛富德(Alan Sinfield)在他的〈誰怕喬•歐騰？〉中強調，歐騰的黑色喜劇雖然成功地震嚇、冒犯保守的觀眾，但卻無法惹惱或刺激開放的一群。本文因此首要指出，歐騰一開始便以守舊、反動的中產階級觀眾為攻訐的目標，並非年輕、進步的一代。本文接著要提出一項重要卻未被辛富德納入討論的因素，即是審查制度。在歐騰創作時期，劇場審查制度仍具效力，歐騰的作品皆需通過審查，方能搬上舞台。審查制度無疑是削弱歐騰顛覆力量的一項事實。本文因而要呈現、討論當時審查人員對歐騰作品的反應、批評和要求，藉此說明審查制度對歐騰作品的干預和阻礙，以及歐騰如何不斷地僭越審查制度的設限、挑戰審查大人權力。本論文希望闡述歐騰的黑色喜劇在六○年代的驚嚇效果和意義，進而臆測，若非受限於審查制度，歐騰的顛覆力量可能更激烈、影響的觀眾更廣大。

This essay attempts to explore the shock value of Joe Orton’s black comedy in the 1960s. The homosexual playwright has been known for his rebellious and subversive humor, with which he scandalized and confronted the bourgeois audience and the English society at that time. The shock effects of Orton’s black comedy have been questioned. In his “Who was Afraid of Joe Orton?” Alan Sinfield maintains that Orton succeeded in shocking and offending the conservative theatergoers, but failed to provoke or disturb the progressive ones. This essay will argue that it was, and had been, the orthodox bourgeoisie, rather than the young and radical generation, that Orton’s outrageous comedy aimed at. The essay will also point out an influence on the shock effects that is important yet has not been considered by Sinfield, namely, stage censorship. Writing at a time when the censorship was still effective, Orton had to confine his work within the boundaries of what was allowed on stage. Theater censorship was certainly one of the factors—and an irrefutable one—that frustrated Orton’s radicalism. This essay therefore will discuss how Orton deliberately stepped over the Lord Chamberlain’s limits to challenge his authority by showing the censor’s reactions to Orton’s scripts and his unfavorable opinions of them. The purpose of the essay is to contend that Orton’s black comedy was shocking and provocative in his time, and could have been more shocking and provocative if not restricted by the censoring powers.