John Cameron Mitchell presents Entertaining Mr Sloane in 35mm at The Quad

As part of New York’s LGBTQ film festival NewFest’s monthly Coming Out Again series at The Quad cinema, filmmaker and actor John Cameron Mitchell will present director Douglas Hickox’s 1970 dark comedy Entertaining Mr Sloane, based on the play by Joe Orton.

Mitchell, who can be seen in the new Hulu series Shrill, describes Sloane on the Quad website as his “favourite British film comedy of the 70’s” and says of Orton, he was “a queer enfant terrible who was so ahead of his time that the Beatles commissioned a screenplay from him but when he cast them as crossdressing terrorists, they returned it to him without comment!”

Orton’s play debuted at London’s New Arts Theatre in May 1964 initially losing money but winning praise from acclaimed playwright Terence Rattigan which helped secure Sloane’s West End transfer to the Wyndham’s Theatre. Following Orton’s death in 1967, a British television adaptation was broadcast on ITV in July 1968 starring Sheila Hancock, Edward Woodward, Clive Francis and Arthur Lovegrove.

Douglas Hickox’s 1970 screen adaptation marked the director’s first feature film and stars Beryl Reid, Harry Andrews, Alan Webb and Peter McEnery.

The details: Entertaining Mr Sloane (1970) screens in 35mm Tuesday 19th March 7pm with John Cameron Mitchell in person at Quad Cinema, 34 West 13th Street, New York, NY 10011. 

To book tickets head to the Quad website here.