A Cream Cracker under the Settee

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A Cream Cracker under the Settee

After nearly three decades of uninterrupted success in the fields of satire (Beyond the Fringe), theatre (40 Years On), TV dramas (An Englishman Abroad) and film (A Private Function), Alan Bennett broke new dramatic ground when this series of monologues appeared on BBC TV in 1988.

Each tale gives us privileged access to the innermost thoughts of an individual, who, although we only hear his/her side of the story, frequently reveals more about him/her than intended.

The situation of Doris is that she is a 75 year old woman that has dizzy spells and works too much for her age. She has a high hygiene conduct and always wants to make sure everything is clean. As a cause of this, she slipped off a buffet, whilst dusting picture of herself with her late husband – Wilfred, falling to the floor, and possibly breaking her leg.

Doris has pride of her house, and continuously makes sure all of it is as clean as possible.

There are lots of aspects in her relationship that can cause us to feel sympathetic towards Doris, for example, her relationship with Zulema seems fragile and harsh, as to where Doris freely expresses her feelings and emotions of her thoughts of Zulema.

At times, Doris imitates particular phrases Zulema has told her, and gives her own thoughts on how Zulema acts towards Doris. This gives an insight into how Doris will not retaliate to Zulema face-to-face, as she knows she could easily be sent to Stafford House as a consequence. This is expressed in the following quote “I am the only person standing between you and Stafford House”. The quote can easily be interpreted as a threat, which I believe how Doris takes the statement.

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With Zulema, she acts patronising and belittling towards Doris, as she says she is too old and incapable of doing things for herself. I believe the following quote expresses this greatly “Your dusting days are over”. The previous quote shows how Zulema takes command and shouts at Doris, forbidding her to actually clean her own house (Which evidently does not go down well with Doris).

Zulema also is tries to help Doris however, although it may not seem so – she does care for Doris!

This is shown in the following quote “Doris do not attempt to ...

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