Relationship With Orton
In 1951, he met Joe Orton, a fellow RADA student. Both men were struggling actors who became struggling writers. However, their common interests led to a lengthy romantic relationship. Halliwell, in the early years, seems to have been something of a tutor to Orton, who had had a rather cursory education, and helped to mould the writing style that would later be called "Ortonesque". The two men collaborated on several novels, including The Boy Hairdresser, which were not published until after their deaths.
In 1962 Halliwell was sent to HM Prison Ford in Sussex for six months for the theft and defacement of library books. (Orton went to Eastchurch in Kent). Orton's emerging success as a writer, following their release from prison, put a distance between the two men that Halliwell found difficult to handle. Towards the end of his life, Halliwell was on regular courses of anti-depressants.
Read more about this topic: Kenneth Halliwell
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