What means does Alan Bennett use to help us to understand the truth about Lesley in Her Big Chance?

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English Literature Coursework- Post 1914 Drama                     

What means does Alan Bennett use to help us to understand the truth about Lesley in Her Big Chance?

Talking heads was a BBC drama television series produced in the late 1980s. The first six monologues were screened in 1987 and a further six were broadcasted in 1998. The monologues give us access to people’s most private thoughts. The individual tells their side of the story. Sometimes they reveal a lot more than they mean to, leaving the audience to investigate their lives further and piece together clues from what they say to create a character in their mind. Each monologue shows us a varied life. They are all melancholy and dramatic. These monologues also give us an insight of everyday British lives in the 80s.

Her Big Chance is about young imprudent women named Lesley. Her obsessive career as a “professional”   actress takes over her whole life so it becomes not just a job, but her world. She ends up being seduced by many men and manipulated into things she doesn’t really want to do, leading to her acting in an abominable manner. The most tragic element being her acceptance of this treatment, believing it is part of her much admired career.

These twelve monologues were written by Alan Bennett, born in 1934. He went to Oxford University and by 1960 he was at his prime. Aspects of Bennett’s life can be found in his monologues. During the 30s Britain had a strong sense of community. The nation was hard working but was also male dominated. There were strict morals such as girls having to be married before sexual intercourse. We can see some opinions from the 30s reflected in Her Big Chance. For example, Lesley sees it as normal for men to push her around and abuse her. Bennett’s early years were spent during World War Two. This harsh upbringing means he would have encountered shortages, caution, great fear and perhaps at times boredom. The audience will notice that young Lesley’s life in the beginning is merriment and over exaggerated. This could represent what Bennett’s childhood lacked, and the things he desperately wanted in his younger years.  Bennett says at the begging of talking heads “he has met many Lesley’s”, evoking the idea that the monologues are semi-auto biographies.

The monologues were cheap to produce. During the 80s the BBC was cutting back their drama budget; therefore Talking Heads was the perfect series to put on air. The series was produced using just two cameras and each monologue took only six hours studio time to create. Compared to earlier high quality dramas, Talking Heads was a successful drama on a tight budget.

Thatcherism played an immense influential role in people’s lives in the 80s. When Margaret Thatcher became the first women prime minister in 1979, the idea of community was beginning to break down. People became more independent. We see the feeling of independence in Lesley’s character at times. The feeling of freedom spread and with it raised the divorce rate. Society became hard working but selfish. It was now believed that you could do anything if you tried hard enough. The idea of fame became exceedingly popular. Lesley’s opinions and morals are linked to this reforming society and culture. She believes that if you give a lot you get a lot. She also thinks she is famous.  Although the equal rights act being introduced a few years before Thatcher’s rise to power, Britain still held many aspects of a male dominated nation. We can see this when the men in Her Big Chance manipulate Lesley into doing things she is reluctant to do. However, she still obeys them.

This drama is called Her Big Chance, but why did Bennett choose this title? I believe the purpose of this title is to mislead the audience. Bennett has used irony here to get our brains thinking about various meanings within the title.  It holds many meanings and represents both Bennett’s and Lesley’s view of the situation in the monologue. When the audience first read the title, they presume this drama will be about a person, who has come across an opportunity that could change their life forever in a positive way. Once we have read the monologue thoroughly and understood Lesley’s character, the titles hidden meanings are revealed. As we see in the monologue, due to her lack of understanding, Lesley always considers her role in the pornographic movie as a useful experience and never regrets coming across the job ( as we see when Lesley tells us she’s glad she went to the party because that’s how she got the part). So the title, if taken literally, represents Lesley’s interpretation of the monologue. She really did see this as Her Big Chance and still does. However, Bennett could have written the title with the intention of a sarcastic meaning. This would be supporting both Bennett’s and the audience’s personal view of the situation. This wasn’t really Her (Lesley’s) Big Chance, his just making fun of her. This title gets the audience thinking like Lesley, in the beginning. By the end of the drama, we see the true Lesley, and think like Bennett. This is what happens in reality when we build a relationship with someone. Firstly we go by the person’s opinion of them self. We then begin to find out their true personality and our view of them as they reveal more about their past and we watch their behaviour and interaction with others in general.  

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Bennett begins this monologue with a dramatic and highly shocking opening. This rather bizarre comment by Lesley helps the audience understand more about her ludicrously stupid character. The first line she says is, “I shot a man last week. In the back. I miss it now, it was really interesting.”  It’s only the first line, and the audience has already been drawn in. I think Bennett wrote this cold and peculiar opening line to get the audience interested in this mysterious character encouraging us to read on and find more about this situation and this person’s psychotic and ...

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