A cream cracker under the settee - Imagine you are directing the play for television. How would you do it and why?

A cream cracker under the settee Imagine you are directing the play for television. How would you do it and why? Doris is a 75-year-old widow, living alone in a semi-detached house. She was fitted with a pacemaker about three years ago because of the symptoms of angina. Her late husband's name is Wilfred who died an unexpected death a couple of years ago. A lady called 'Zulema' has been employed by the Social Services to clean Doris' house. Zulema had been visiting Doris for the past four months, every Wednesday of each week. Yet Doris despises her. This is generally due to the fact that Zulema doesn't clean or dust properly and still gets paid for her 'cleaning'. And the main reason for this hatred towards Zulema is because of her constant bickering of 'how Doris should be thinking about going to the Stafford house and also because of the threats that if Doris does do any work she'll be reported and sent to the Stafford house'. This whole play is based on Doris. It is mainly set in the living room and in the hallway of the semi-detached house. The play starts after Doris falls off the buffet, while she was trying to dust the top of the fire-place in the living room. The play begins as we see Doris sitting awkwardly, and rubbing her leg, next to the fire place. As the drama continues, Doris talks about her present life and recalls her past. Doris mentions her husband a

  • Word count: 2835
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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What impression does Bennett create of Doris'

What impression does Bennett create of Doris' character and her life, in 'A cream cracker under the settee', and how successful do you find the BBC TV production starring Thora Hird? The monologue was interesting and I really enjoyed reading and watching it. It is set in the 1980's, northern England, Leeds-Bradford. The monologue involves was Doris, who doesn't go out, because she is afraid she might bring dirt into the house and was afraid of the younger generation. My first impressions of Doris from the monologue are that she is an old lady who lives on her own and somebody who lives a bleak life. She doesn't like people disturbing her and believes that she can look after herself. As the monologue develops I get the impression that she is a bossy kind of person, because she keeps telling people that she will definitely not be going into Stafford House. She doesn't like her cleaner and wishes she could do things for herself. In the past Doris was married to Wilfred, and Doris was expecting a baby, but unfortunately it died and not long after Wilfred sadly died. Doris passed has shaped her present because she has been left on her own she can't cope and has to have somebody caring for her. Since Wilfred died her cleaner Zulema who is the person that Doris doesn't practically like and always complains about her, has looked after her in way. At the present time Doris is happy

  • Word count: 1501
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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In A Lady of Letters how does Alan Bennett sustain the audiences interest in a play with only one character?

In 'A Lady of Letters' how does Alan Bennett sustain the audience's interest in a play with only one character? 'A Lady of Letters' is a dramatic monologue by Alan Bennett produced in 1988 and was a part of a series called 'Talking heads' which was written for the BBC. It is based on many different ordinary characters and their views on controversial subjects like racism, society and politics etcetera. The protagonist in 'A Lady of Letters' is Miss Irene Ruddock - a middle aged woman shown constantly to be annoyed about social changes around her. The changes include immigration, marriage, fashion and loss in the sense of community. Furthermore, the government was run by the Conservative party where Margret Thatcher was the first and to this day the only female Prime Minister. This boosted the equality between men and women. Women began to wear more provocative and 'manly' clothing -which caused disapproval from older generations. Due to the changes in media and society, Miss Ruddock has a tendency to write many letters of complaint, which is shown by her having already written a letter in the beginning of her monologue. The plot itself is set in the 1970s where many different factors change in society which somewhat upsets an 'old-fashioned' woman like Miss Ruddock. The title brings irony to the monologue as the word 'Lady' is associated with someone with a higher status

  • Word count: 3899
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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How does Alan Bennett reveal the character of Doris in 'A Cream Cracker under the Settee?'

How does Alan Bennett reveal the character of Doris in 'A Cream Cracker under the Settee?' In this essay I will be analysing Alan Bennett's short play titled 'A Cream Cracker Under the Settee.' I will be exploring the props, lighting and dramatic techniques used to reveal the character of Doris. I will be investigating why Bennett chose to write the play using monologue and how slowly reveals the character of Doris. The play is about an elderly woman who is alone, trapped in her own home when she falls and injures her leg. She has no means of communication with the world outside and spends the last few hours of her life reminiscing. In the play Bennett uses no active dialogue, this is to keep the audience focused on Doris, her views and opinions. Because only one person is speaking, only one opinion can be given. In order to keep the audiences' attention Doris must perform impersonations of the other characters, so that although there is no active dialogue there is still conversation and the audience are actively involved. Doris uses old but informal language because she is 75 and very old fashioned. In the play Bennett has chosen to give Doris three props, which are a duster, a photograph of Doris and her late husband Wilfred and most importantly the cream cracker. The first prop used is the duster. The duster symbolises Doris' need to clean. She cannot restrain herself

  • Word count: 1813
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Examine Bennett's characterisation of Graham in

Examine Bennett's characterisation of Graham in "A chip in the sugar" and Irene in " A lady of letters." How does Bennett's choice of the monologue form express their sense of isolation and reveal their weakness? Allan Bennett wrote a series of six monologues for television in 1987. We have been concentrating on two of these, "A chip in the sugar" and "A lady of letters". Even though the two stories are different there are many similarities between the characters, both characters are lonely and isolated from most human contact, with the exception of Grahams mother and Irene's social workers. Bennett wrote the stories in monologue form, which makes them interesting to read because they are written fully from the point of view of the main character and are therefor very biased bringing tragedy and comedy at the same time. You have to read between the lines to realise what is really happening in the lives of these troubled people. They never say they are lonely for example but they never talk of any friends or indeed conversation with other people. Graham from "A chip in the sugar" is a middle-aged man who still lives with his mother. He has lived with only a woman all of his life so some female aspects show through in him like doing the house work and the way he looks after his mother he seems to think he is the mother. He has only ever been dressed by his mother so he

  • Word count: 1681
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Talking Heads

Talking Heads 'Talking heads' are a set of monologues, written by Alan Bennett. They show us different characters that each have a certain problem. All of Bennett's characters have an obsession, for example Leslie is obsesses with herself and status '' I was a sophisticated woman'', Irene Ruddock is obsessed with writing letters and spying on her neighbourhood ''I sat in the front room in the dark watching the house'', and Doris has an obsession with cleaning ''Zulema doesn't dust''. Monologues are plays or scenes where only one person is speaking to the audience. It usually involves that one person telling us about themselves and possibly stories. Monologues are different from other kinds of text as there is little physical action involved. I feel it is much more complicated for an actor to perform a monologue because the actor has to revise and learn a large amount of lines to recite. The main effect of a play being written for television is to reach across to an audience larger than that of a theatre. This may make the audience more interested as they are watching a performance of a character who they believe to be outrageous. (The audience loves to hate them). The three studies monologues interlink as all the characters have an obsession; and some have a common mis-en-scene e.g. (Irene in her tasteless, old lounge and a window; Doris with an old lounge and furniture,

  • Word count: 2738
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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It is not what Lesley says in ‘Her big chance’ that reveals her character. But what she doesn’t say. Discuss how this is possible through Alan Bennett’s use of a Monologue.

It is not what Lesley says in 'Her big chance' that reveals her character. But what she doesn't say. Discuss how this is possible through Alan Bennett's use of a Monologue. Talking heads is a collection of monologues, which were written by the BBC in 1987. When they were recorded they starred some of the best and well-known actress in Britain like Maggie Smith, Patricia Routledge, Stephanie Cole, and Thora Hird. A monologue is a speech or talk made by one person to the audience. Julie Walters is one of England's leading comic actresses who plays Lesley in the chosen monologue for the chosen assessment. A brief outline of the story is that she goes to a party and gets tricked into going to an audition to star in a porn film and she gets the part but her part is cut and the film is a big flop. In my opinion Lesley is an Easy lay because she sleeps with Spud, Terry, Kenny, and Gaunter. All of these people miss lead her into sleeping with her foe example Kenny asks her to see if she wants to come and see his sick cat on his bed and she falls for it. The writing Alan Bennett makes us think that Lesley is cheap and easy because he makes her going round sleeping around he uses all the other characters to do this. He makes all the other the characters talk to her as she is a little 5 year old girl because they all talk down to her and she is stupid. Lesley feels about herself

  • Word count: 528
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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The day after the slaughtering of the rabbits Mr Fletcher woke up as usual

The day after the slaughtering of the rabbits Mr Fletcher woke up as usual And went down stairs, had a shower collected the post, and had breakfast He thanked Mrs Fletcher for lovely breakfast she had made him that morning, his favourite bacon and egg all before he went to feed the precious little rabbits of his. He went out side and there to discover that his rabbits had had their heads hacked off their heads were lying around like flowerpots. Someone had torched them before hacking their heads off, someone had cut them open and then ripped their insides out, and they were everywhere, the cage was a bloody bath. Mr Fletcher shouted you Bloody bitch. As Mr and Mrs Fletcher had an argument over Mr Fletcher and his rabbits, she was getting him about the affair he had but using the rabbits as an excuse. Mrs Fletcher thought that Mr Fletcher was still seeing this woman who he had an affair with a long time ago. She used to say that he was always in a hurry on the way out of the house. Mrs Fletcher had confronted Mr Fletcher about the affair she asked him if it was still going on, Mr Fletcher told her the truth that nothing was going on and that is was over ages ago the matter was dead and buried as far as he was concerned but she wasn't convinced So in the end she believed him but she still thought that the rabbits got in her way so she went to bed as usual but got up

  • Word count: 546
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Alan Bennett's "Talking Heads" monologues are described as being 'short stories'. With reference to "Her Big Chance" discuss how Bennett Is able to create this genre with what seems to be one voice.

Alan Bennett's "Talking Heads" monologues are described as being 'short stories'. With reference to "Her Big Chance" discuss how Bennett Is able to create this genre with what seems to be one voice. Introduction After 30 years of a successful career of film, theatre, satire and television, Alan Bennett broke new dramatic ground with his series of monologues "Talking Heads". It was a new and brave idea to have just one character talking, keeping an audience gripped by asking them to listen to one characters thoughts and feelings. There is no action and this is unlike a more conventional play. Alan Bennett first appeared on stage in 1960 when he starred and co-authored the satirical review "Beyond the Fringe". Bennett's writing frequently focuses on the everyday and the mundane: sea-side holidays, lower-middle class pretensions, obsessions with class, cleanliness, propriety and sexual repression. Born in Yorkshire, Bennett's 'Englishness' and 'Northeness' are evident to see and the characters he writes about are rooted in a particular social environment but the issues they raise are more of a universal appeal. In "talking heads" each take gives the viewer privileged access to the innermost thoughts of an individual, who although we only hear his/her side of the story, frequently reveals more about himself/herself than intended. The characters are often deluded about

  • Word count: 2782
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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How does Alan Bennett create the character of Miss Fozzard and tell her story? The video, "Talking Heads Two" was made in 1998. It is a collection of six dramatic monologues

How does Alan Bennett create the character of Miss Fozzard and tell her story? The video, "Talking Heads Two" was made in 1998. It is a collection of six dramatic monologues by various different actors, each one telling their own story. Bennett wrote a series of monologues in 1988 for BBC 2 at a time when they were having financial difficulties. Monologues were chosen as they only required a few actors and cameramen. They were successful and Bennett decided to write a second series of monologues, the one which I am going to study is called "Miss Fozzard finds her feet" and I will be discussing how Alan Bennett creates her character and how her story is told. The monologues were written for, and shown on television. The use of the "talking head" as a dramatic device is effective as the audience sees the expression on the actors face and then feels the emotion the actor is portraying in their role. The effect of using the monologue form is effective as there is only one character so the audience can connect and understand the character better. In the collection of monologues there are no special effects used i.e. flashbacks, distractions also helps the audience understand the character. The audience also has to use their imagination as other characters are only spoken about and not seen so the audience has to imagine what they look like. Also, as the monologues are only set

  • Word count: 2562
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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