Whenever Doris uses humour she changes her tone of voice but keeps her facial expressions the same throughout the piece. Whereas, Susan changes her facial expressions and looks directly at the camera for humorous points. However, she only changes the tone of her voice when she is imitating someone. This shows the age difference and mobility of each person as Doris is in a very frail condition.
Alan Bennett also manages to include some tragedy in BATL and CCUTS, this contrasts well with the humour in both pieces.
Susan is a very sarcastic and bitter person. This may be due to her marriage with Geoffrey as this is a very boring situation for her. Not only this, Geoffrey exploits her alcoholism to make people think he is a caring husband willing to stand by his wife every step of the way.
‘He grips my hand in public, nay brandishes it.’
This line implies that Susan feels trapped in her marriage and is unable to stop Geoffrey taking control and making her decisions for her.
Doris has also had a very unhappy life with several tragic incidents, most notably, the loss of her baby at a very young age.
‘I wanted him called John. The midwife said he wasn’t fit to be called anything’
‘All them years ago when we were first married and I was having the baby.’
These lines show that Doris lives in the past a lot and this probably contributes to her sadness as she is unable to move on from the loss of her baby and later, the loss of her husband.
Doris is also extremely reliant on Zulema to carry out jobs in and around the house for her. this frustrates Doris as she would rather be doing this herself to ensure that they are done properly.
‘Zulema doesn’t dust. She half dusts.’
This shows that Doris is unsatisfied with Zulema and is rather fussy when it comes to cleanliness.
Susan is constantly criticising her husband and questions his religious believes.
‘It could be that Geoffrey doesn’t believe in God either’
This shows that Susan does not believe in God, this may be because she is resentful towards the church as the people involved seem to divert Geoffrey’s attention away from her.
However, Susan is very loving and affectionate towards Ramesh, this may be because he is different to Geoffrey because he lets her make her own decisions and doesn’t refer to her as the ‘vicar’s wife’
Doris is an extremely petty and obsessive person when it comes to cleanliness.
‘Well, Zulema, I bet you haven’t dusted the top of that.’
She is referring to her wedding photo when she says this and this is a good example of her pettiness as you cannot expect a cleaner to dust the top of a photograph!
Alan Bennett makes several choices with the stage and sound effects.
In BATL there are no props used except for an empty glass and this symbolises Susan's empty life and her empty marriage to Geoffrey.
Similarly there are very few props used in CCUTS, just a photograph and a duster these symbolise the fact she has nothing of any value left in her life, not even her independence.
During both of these pieces the camera zooms in to the characters emotions during an important speech.
In CCUTS Doris has several blackouts, after each of these blackouts she has moved to a different place in her house and her condition deteriorates. This shows her frailness and implies that she does not have long left before she dies and this then creates sympathy for Doris.
In BATL there are not many sound effects used except for a clock ticking in the background. This illustrates her life as it ticks by slowly and meaninglessly. Whereas, in CCUTS there are no sound effects used in the entire piece and this emphasises the fact that she is alone. It also gains and maintains the viewer’s attention throughout the performance.
During BATL Susan rarely changes the tone of her voice and maintains a dull, boring tone which mirrors her dull life and marriage. However, Doris’s tone of voice changes when she is shocked or upset about something and this makes her feelings very clear to the viewers; this is very effective at creating sympathy for the character.
In CCUTS slow music is played before each blackout. Alan Bennett chose this music as it suggests pain and adds to the sympathy effect. During CCUTS Doris does not use any gestures and this shows her frailness and once again creates sympathy.
Both of these performance pieces are presented in the form of a dramatic monologue and this is an extremely effective way of telling the two stories.
By having only one person on the stage it concentrates the viewer’s attention on that character and ensures that they have a greater awareness to the character’s story.
In my view, the camera is hidden to the character and they are looking back on their lives. This is very effective as the characters are completely open about there feelings and emotions.
If they were done in play form I do not think they would be as effective in conveying a sense of both humour and tragedy as the viewer’s attention would occasionally be drawn towards other characters on stage.
In conclusion I feel that these two dramatic monologues are extremely effective at conveying both humour and tragedy. They achieve this effect through the use of effective choices with regards to the stage directions and sound effects. The dramatic monologue form makes the whole thing feel more personal and creates sympathy for these characters.
Written by
Will Annear
