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The National Justice Museum has launched its first-ever crowdfunding campaign to celebrate the work of Leicester playwright, Joe Orton.

The museum is hoping to raise £10,000 as part of an Art Happens campaign, hosted by national charity Art Fund, to help create a special exhibition – featuring archival materials provided by our University – and exploring for the first time the fascinating role of crime in Joe Orton’s life and work. 

Titled Crimes of Passion: The Story of Joe Orton, the exhibition will mark the 50th anniversary of Orton’s death and the 50th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality. 

The exhibition is co-curated by the renowned Orton academic, Dr Emma Parker, from the School of Arts.

Dr Parker said: “This exhibition will examine, for the first time, crimes committed by and against Orton alongside Orton's treatment of crime in his plays. It offers a valuable insight into shifting conceptions of social justice.”

The exhibition will pay homage to Joe Orton’s principle format of work – plays and will feature objects on loan from , including archival material and the Morocco diary.

Artist (and Orton’s nephew) David Lock, will also be commissioned to create new artwork and a large-scale collage inspired by the one that lined the walls of Orton’s and Halliwell’s bedsit in London which featured images stolen from library books.