'Write a critical appreciation, in which you compare at least two of Alan Bennett's dramatic monologues 'Talking heads' from the perspective of a theatre goer/ television viewer'

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Jessica Everitt

English Drama course-work

20th century Drama Course-work

‘Write a critical appreciation, in which you compare at least two of Alan Bennett’s dramatic monologues ‘Talking heads’ from the perspective of a theatre goer/ television viewer’

        

I had the opportunity to visit the Harrogate Theatre to watch three of Alan Bennett’s dramatic monologues. These were, ‘Cream Cracker Under the settee’, ‘Bed Among the Lentils’ and ‘Chip In the Sugar’.

        I thoroughly enjoyed the production and preferred the interpretation of the plays in comparison to the televised version. I found the televised version lacked emotional depth and resonance, whereas the theatre production successfully conveyed emotion whilst remaining static. The theatre production also introduced props which were convincingly used by the actors to make the performance more real and ring true. And as the characters spoke directly to the audience it made the entire experience all the more personal; it was as though the character was confiding in the audience.

        The dramatic Monologues from ‘Talking Heads’ were initially written as a television series and shown in 1988 by the BBC; they included the renowned actress Maggie Smith, Thora Hird and Julie Walters. ‘Talking Heads’ broke new dramatic ground as previous monologues tended to be musical and it has become a modern classic. Such was the success and popularity, the plays moved on to the BBC radio, international theatre and even appear on A-level syllabus.

In the Introduction of ‘Talking Heads’ Alan Bennett describes the difference between a monologue and play. He says;

        “A play allows you to see things from the perspective of several featured characters. In a monologue you are reliant upon the view points of a single character; you must read between the lines to draw your own conclusions”

        This is so true. At the beginning of Alan Bennett’s dramatic monologues you are reliant upon what you are being told by just the one character, but as the play moves on, the character recalls and re-tells other situations, you begin to draw your own conclusions about what is going on underneath. I found this particularly in ‘Chip in the Sugar’, where the character talks about his concern for his mother and her new boyfriend because of her age and vulnerability out of concern. However, his extreme over protection, jealousy, and over controlling role over his mother lead to doubts in the audience’s mind about their mother son relationship and whether it’s more than that or if the two of them are just extremely dependant on each other for support, whereas in normal circumstances the children leave home.  Owing to the characters openness we are able to delve into the inner most thoughts of the individuals- who typically of Alan Bennett are sad, pathetic and timeless characters who deal with difficult and dark situations apparent in our society today. Unbeknown to them, however, they tend to reveal perhaps much more about themselves than they intend. This not only adds to the humour of the plays but gives us great insight into their lives. However, the story we hear is always one sided but never the less we are compelled to feel empathy for the characters.

        

The monologue ‘Cream Cracker Under the Settee’ focuses on the life of an elderly widow named Doris. Her husband passed away, and her physical condition, not allowing her to look after her self properly, she grudgingly puts up with a cleaner from Welfare- Zulema. Doris suffers the torments and threats from Zulema about being taken away to Stafford House, if she keeps trying to clean up her self- is this genuine concern about Doris’ condition or a blatant misuse of power by Zulema?

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        “What you don’t understand Doris, is that I’m the only person that stands between you and Stafford house”      

        Doris refuses to go to Stafford house, but still insists on secretly cleaning as she complains Zulema’s cleaning is not at all up to scratch. Whilst she tries to dust the picture frame of her dead husband, she slips. Unable to get up or move much she gets thinking about her present and past life in this complete short play. Ironically, Doris finds a cream cracker under the settee whilst she’s on the floor which she wants to send ...

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