How does Alan Bennet Maintain Readers Interest

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Alex Haigh

Mrs Walls

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Talking heads

How does Alan Bennett maintain the reader's interest?

When an audience usually goes to see a play, there are different characters to engage them. This tends to work well, because the audience are able to relate to each of the different characters. Alan Bennett, despite only having one character played in the monologue, still manages to engage the audience; he does this using a range of techniques. Often when you go to see a dramatic monologue, there is not many changes or fluctuations of scenes which can present a problem; boredom.

In a dramatic monologue there is only one view point, which can also present a problem, this being that the audience may not like Irene's personality; more importantly they may be unable to relate to the character. Bennett overcomes these issues by using a variety of techniques. Such as, gradually revealing information and by changing the personality of Irene rather dramatically. He also does this by introducing other characters through reported speech and by implementing a humour element to lighten up a serious matter.

The dramatic monologue form suits Irene. This is because