Sex

Orton's most obvious subject in Entertaining Mr. Sloane is sexual appetite. with the exception of the aged Kemp, the characters are so preoccupied with their sexual needs that by the end of the play they appear completely self-centered, frighteningly insensitive, and almost subhuman.

Kath is the one most openly hunting for sexual satisfaction. Having met Sloane that afternoon in the library, she invites him to consider her home as an alternative to his present lodgings. When Sloane says in his fourth speech of the play, "I can't give you a decision right away," Kath says "I'd be happy to have you." The sexual pun on "have" is obvious, and Sloane gets the message. After a brief silence he says "are you married?" and the question is equivalent to "are you sexually available?" This is the fictional counterpart of the real-life "pickups" that Orton describes so explicitly in his...