Trailer and release date for Chris Shepherd’s animated Joe Orton tribute ‘Yours faithfully, Edna Welthorpe (Mrs)’
Following the recent news that acclaimed UK animation filmmaker Chris Shepherd has produced a new animation in honour of the 50 year anniversary of playwright Joe Orton’s death, a release date for the film has today been announced along with a trailer that you can see below.
The project, produced by Abigail Addison and dubbed Yours Faithfully, Edna Welthorpe (Mrs), takes inspiration from Orton’s prank complaint letters written under the pseudonym Edna Welthorpe and is supported by the University of Leicester and Arts Council England.
Making use of a collage technique in order to evoke Orton and Kenneth Halliwell’s notorious habit of defacing of library book covers – that saw the pair sentenced to six months in prison back in 1962 – the animation talents of Jocie Juritz, Hannah McNally, Matha Halliday, Tom Fisher and Chris Shepherd himself have been drawn upon, with a voice cast including Alison Steadman and Robin Sebastian.
As well as being released online August 10th, the film can be seen at a special event at The Little Theatre in Leicester the day before as well as part of a masterclass presented by Chris Shepherd at this year’s Encounters Short Film Festival in Bristol. The festival also features Chris’s recent short Johnno’s Dead among its official selection and will include a retrospective of his work.
The animation contributes to a larger project put together by Chris and the University of Leicester’s Dr. Emma Parker, with new material commissioned by leading UK comedy writers Jesse Armstrong (Peep Show, The Thick
of It), Arthur Mathews (Father Ted, Toast of London) and Caroline Moran (Raised by Wolves).
See more of Chris Shepherd’s work at chrisshepherdfilms.com