Alan Bennett wrote 'A Lady of Letters' in 1987. It is a dramatic monologue from the 'Talking heads' collection and was written for Patricia Routledge.
A Lady of Letters Alan Bennett wrote 'A Lady of Letters' in 1987. It is a dramatic monologue from the 'Talking heads' collection and was written for Patricia Routledge. This satirical tragic-comedy is about a middle aged woman called Irene Ruddock who writes letters of criticism and the short period in her life when her letter writing is most malicious and trouble making. She is judgemental and likes to look down on people, as if she is better than everyone, when really she isn't. Her mixed up life leads us away from the irony near the end of the play. Bennett came from a lower middle-class family and grew up in Yorkshire. He graduated from Oxford University in the 1960's and became a television star who was nominated for an Oscar. Bennett's 'Talking heads' series has been described as "gossip as drama" as he uses characters from lower-middle and working classes, using mostly northern accents. Bennett had an ear for colloquial conversation and he often described his upbringing as a world of small snobberies and social awkwardness. Bennett's 'Mam' was an important figure in his life and he told how her death was very difficult for him. The basis of the character Irene Ruddock could be linked to Bennett's mother and her life. The opening stage directions tell us that Irene is unmarried and is an "ordinary middle aged woman"; this tells us that she isn't special and she
Letter to Thora Hird, - Congratulations on getting the part of Doris in our forthcoming production of "Cream Cracker Under The Settee".
32 Holdenn St Star Studios Hollywood 2 Rengte Lane Farson Willoton WE1 456 Dear Thora Hird, Congratulations on getting the part of Doris in our forthcoming production of "Cream Cracker Under The Settee". As mentioned before you will be playing the role of Doris, a seventy-something independent women who is subversive in her desire to be kept in her home and receiving threats about being sent to Stafford House by her home helper, Zulema. Doris finds Zulema patronising because of her comments, but being a proud women she passes them off with sarcastic remarks, "They don't put people in Stafford House just for running round with the Ewbank." Doris says this when Zulema threatens to send her to Stafford House. Doris is over obsessed with cleanliness and accuses Zulema of only "half-dusting". Some props and clothes to be included are an old settee, wedding photos, various other living room furniture, a cream cracker and a broken photo of her and Wilfred to show how her life has been shattered. Also Doris will need to wear a dull, old dress, this is because Doris says, "I've had this frock for years". Some key themes to keep in mind are isolation, because Doris has no family or friends, basically no contact with the outside world except for her weekly visits from Zulema, she mentions, "I never get any bona fide callers." Also Doris's frustration with dirt, she has
'In his Talking Heads plays Alan Bennett presents vivid portraits of human frailty and challenges us to respond to them'. Discuss this statement with references to
Daniel Dowd 11J 15th September 2002 'In his Talking Heads plays Alan Bennett presents vivid portraits of human frailty and challenges us to respond to them'. Discuss this statement with references to "A Chip in the Sugar" and "Bed amongst the Lentils" In the play a Chip in the Sugar Alan Bennett shows us a life of a very unconfident man who still lives with his mum. Alan Bennett has put the play to us in the way he has so that we listen to the feelings there aren't any special effects unlike most modern films. We pick up on every little minor feeling or expression. There are special techniques used in the play though. In the play they use different camera shots but they sustain the same shot for a substantial amount of time. Different angles in the shots help gain effects on facial expressions. Which is an important part of this play. They used medium shots, which include most of the scene, and also long shots, which give a distanced view, but they are not used very often because all the focus is on Grahams face, but the camera technique that gained the best effect was close up. This shot focuses on something in detail and this was used a lot when Graham was talking. They did this because in the play facial expressions and feelings were very important and they wanted to get the impression of Graham across very early. They wanted you to see that he was
Analyse Bennett's scene directions and language in the play. How does he convey the complexity and her feelings about society?
Analyse Bennett's scene directions and language in the play. How does he convey the complexity and her feelings about society? By Jamie Theobald 10sjw Alan Bennett's portrayal of a lonely old woman provokes many contrasting emotions from the reader and audience, two of which are sympathy and antipathy. Due to the fact that the chosen medium is a monologue stage directions play a very important part (Bennett also likes to take control of how his plays are interpreted). The first stage direction mentions 'her semi-detached house', this indicates that the character of Doris is aspirant middle-class, this along with other things helps to stress her snobbish personality. The house has 1960s furnishings and shows how Doris doesn't want to move on from her prime (when she was happily married to Wilfred and was pregnant with her first child) and tends to dwell in the past, this indicates the insecurity of her character about the death of her baby and the loss o f her husband. We can also see net curtains in the background; this suggests that Doris likes to pry at her neighbours. The implication that Doris likes to watch other people's lives indicates that she leads a dull life and tries to distract herself from it by watching the interesting lives around her. It may also be Bennett trying to make Doris seem more of a stereotypical OAP so that the audience can relate to her.
A Cream cracker under the settee.
"A Cream cracker under the settee" wrote by Alan Bennett. Written for television a television script, a cream cracker under the settee is one of six commissioned by the BBC in 1987. Collectively they were called "talking Heads". Each of the plays unfolds the story of one central character by using their spoken thoughts. Bennet explores various themes in the plays, each monologue is the story of the events that change a person's life, some are tragic, some are humorous, all explore themes which skilfully use dramatic devices to keep and maintain the audience's interest to think about and respond to when they watch the plays. A dramatic monologue is a play which there is only one performer. The dramatic monologue was poetic form perfected and exploited by Robert Browning although earlier poems exhibited many of its characteristics. It resembles the soliloquy where a character in a play utters his thoughts aloud. But in a stage soliloquy, the speaker addresses other characters and even the audience; the conversation is that the audience overhears him/her talking to themselves. "A cream cracker" is set in the home of Doris an elderly lady at the age of seventy-five, it is mainly situated in the living room of her semi-detached house, but does stray to her hall. The play begins when the camera fades up to a view of Doris sat awkwardly on a low chair rubbing her leg, in the
A Cream cracker under the settee.
A Cream cracker under the settee Good morning everyone, I would like to welcome you all to the first rehearsal of 'A cream cracker under the settee' starring Lisa Pattern who will be known as Doris in the monologue. Doris is shown as an isolated and lonely character, a woman that is strongly opinionated in what she says "I don't think their married, half of them." Doris is also critical of people "Yvonne, the funny daughter." In the first half of the monologue the audience are immediately aware of Doris' bad leg as she rubs it and already feel sympathetic for her. Doris' husband is also mentioned in the first half and hints of a baby they had together that did not live long. We will begin from the start of page eighty six Lisa. As you can see Doris begins by talking about the policeman, the line "The policeman comes past now and again." Would sound effective if said in a sad, quiet but sarcastic voice with the emphasis on "...now and again", Doris should say this slowly and quietly but still keeping the sarcastic tone. The reason why she says the line like that is because she feels upset and maybe a bit angry those policemen are not around much anymore. After this line is said the camera cuts to outside Doris' house, it then goes into slow motion and a ghostly figure of a policeman walks past and the starts to fade away. All surrounding noises are blanked out and the noise
A Cream Cracker Under the Settee
A Cream Cracker Under the Settee How does Alan Bennett reveal Doris' character, life and attitude in the dramatic monologue "a cream cracker under the settee"? Many of Bennett's characters are unfortunate and downtrodden, as in the Talking Heads series of monologues that was first performed at the Comedy Theatre in London in 1992, and then transferred to television. This was a sextet of poignantly comic pieces, each of which portrayed several stages in the character's decline from their initial state of denial or ignorance of their predicament, through their slow realization of the hopelessness of their situation, to a typically bleak Bennett conclusion. The dramatic monologue, "a cream cracker under the settee" is from that group of six. It is from the point of view of an elderly lady called Doris, who is insistent that the world of her time is much better then the present. She dwells on the past and tells of how things were back then, and how it has changed for the worst. She had fallen while cleaning a picture of her husband Wilfred and most of the monologue is from Doris sitting on the floor in her living room where she fell. Her attitude to the modern world is that it used to be better then it is now, this also shows why she is disapproving of her home help, Zulema, who had not cleaned the picture in the first place. Throughout the play Bennett reviles Doris'
A Cream Cracker under the Settee
A Cream Cracker under the Settee 'Cream Cracker under the Settee', written by Alan Bennett comes from a series of 1980s monologues called 'Talking Heads'. It was written for television so that the actors could speak directly to the camera giving the monologues a realistic feel. In this essay I will explore the way Doris and Wilfred's relationship and character is presented and commenting on the monologue as a dramatic device. I will also analyze they unique way each reacted to events and people during their life together. In 'Cream Cracker under the Settee' Dora Bryan takes the role of Doris. Obsessive about cleaning, Doris has tidied her husband into the grave and ignored the warnings of her social services daily with tragic results! The play opens in the morning. Doris "a women of seventy five who has a pacemaker and dizzy spells", has (disobeying her career Zulema) been trying to dust in her home and has hurt herself with a fall. Doris occasionally reminiscences about Wilfred, her deceased husband; She tells us of his ideas and inventions which were "Never materialized". It seems clear that Doris has spent her married life repressing her husband as a result of her determination to be tidy; his gardening, his allotment, his dog, his fretwork. It is an interesting contrast how Wilfred seeks to create in some sense unlike Doris who will only conserve and preserve. Doris
A cream cracker under the settee
A cream cracker under the settee. By Alan Bennett. A Cream cracker under the settee is a monologue by Alan Bennett. He tries to create a dramatic monologue that proves you don't have to follow the typical stereotypes of every other film for it to be a success. Alan Bennett does this by having the normal characters, story line and plot you would expect for films but in an unconventional way. In the monologue there is only one actor that is Doris. Doris is an old lady in her seventies who lives on her completely on her own other than a social worker who comes to visit her every so often. Having only one character means the audience have to really concentrate on her and use their imagination to see the scenes of her life she talks about. As a single character, we see her just on her own; this shows the audience the truth of her situation and creates sympathy towards her character. During the monologues you only hear about Doris' side to every story, so in cream cracker we don't get Zulema's view on things. If we did get her view the sympathy the audience feels towards Doris would probably be different so by just including Doris' points of view Alan Bennett has been clever as to create the right attitude towards Doris. We see Doris as a moaning bitter character; this is portrayed as she feels that Zulema is constantly bossing her around. "I was glad when she'd gone,
A Cream Cracker Under The Settee
A Cream Cracker Under The Settee This play is a one Act monolog about an old lady called Doris, who is comparing her life now with her life in the past. All the way through the play Doris is speaking straight to the audience. The playwright uses a variety of dramatic techniques to do this. When she talks about Zuleema and what she says, "Dusting is forbidden" Doris makes us, the audience feel that Zuleema is treating her like a child. This shows that she is not very happy with Zuleema and thinks she can take care of her self. Doris talks out loud, this lets the audience know how she feels and shows that she is lonely and old. I think the playwright has chosen this technique to show that Doris doesn't have anyone to talk to. When Doris tells us what Zuleema says, she speaks in a manner which, makes us the audience feel that she is fed up of Zuleema bossing her around and telling her what do and what not to do. Doris uses the word "Dictating" to describe the way Zuleema was talking. Zuleema talks through Doris to give the audience a feel of how Doris is being treated. Doris appears to pause before changing the subject, this shows that she thinks about what she is going to say before saying it. When she talks about the past she makes us feel that everything was perfect in the past and that things have changed a lot. Doris keeps looking at her cracked wedding photo, this shows