The writer assumes that you understand the character’s emotions and you can relate to them in some way or another. The writer also assumes that you care about what happens to the characters.
The BBC’s approach to televising Alan Bennett’s plays for television was in many ways to keep their theatrical presence although they were recorded in a television studio.
The BBC broadcast them in the late 1980s; they received great public and critical acclaim because of their portrayal of human endeavour. Thora Hird won a BAFTA in 1988 for her performance as Doris in ‘A Cream Cracker Under the Sofa’ and won three more awards for performances in Alan Bennett monologues, Two BAFTAs and one EMMY.
These monologues were among Alan Bennett's first to be produced and broadcast. One of the challenges in televising a monologue is keeping the audience’s attention as monologues are not always visually entertaining.
In the programmes the directors use a close-up camera shot when the character is talking about something important. For example, in ‘The Lady of Letters’ when she talks about the visit from the police when Irene states the line:
“No. Leukaemia”
The technique of mid-shot and close-up is used throughout.
The music in the monologues is very fitting and allows the audience to appreciate the different moods of the play. The music is in the minor key throughout most of the monologues, demonstrating how depressed and miserable the characters sometimes are. The music is introduced to create atmosphere when something particularly emotionally stirring or dramatic is occurring. The music is also used to link the end of scenes and the fades to black.
However, silence also is used to highlight different parts of the play. When the actors say important lines there is a silence for a few seconds before music is brought back. This allows the audience time to assess the dramatic effect of the play.
There are several set changes in both monologues. ‘The Lady of Letters’ starts off in Irene’s house, in a dull plain room with just a desk and a window. The walls are plain and white with no form of decoration. The lack of decoration might suggest her lack of interest in the inside of her house; she is more interested in what is outside. After a short period of time she moves to an armchair to read the paper, yet she is still in view of the window. In the middle of the monologue there is an end of scene in which Irene is leaving her house and putting her coat on. The only other set change in ‘A lady of Letters’ is when she is sent to prison. The prison walls have a plain industrial pattern and a reinforced window to prevent the inmates escaping.
The sets in ‘A Cream Cracker under the Sofa’ do not change very often. At the beginning of the monologue Doris is sitting in an armchair in her main room. In the room is a fireplace. When Doris tries to go and make a cup of tea she is unable to do so and ends up on the floor by the fireplace sitting next to the wedding photo she cracked. Doris attempts to make it to the door to get help. This is when the next scene change occurs. Doris ends up seated on the floor in front of the door.
Later on as the monologue draws to a close Doris manages to drag herself back into the living room in which she started the monologue. The main setting of a ‘Cream Cracker under the Sofa’ is Doris’s main room. This room is full of furniture and is very out of date. I think this is linked with the fact that she is trapped in the past by her views of people and her obsession with hygiene.
In a monologue, normally you do not see the plot happening directly. It happens, then the character tells you about it. The only exception of this in the two monologues is at the end of ‘A Cream Cracker under the Sofa’. When the police officer approaches the window you actually see Doris turn down the officer’s help.
Fading to black is used to differentiate between two different time periods and to change the set, for example in ‘A Lady of Letters’ after Irene says the line:
“He needs reporting” (when referring to the police officer who is having an affair with the woman down the street)
It fades to black and comes back with Irene in prison, this shows it is used as both a change of time and place.
In the monologues the character is always talking to the camera and almost always looking straight into the camera. This makes it seem as if the character is talking directly to the viewer and I think this helps the viewer to understand their choices and opinions better than if they were not talking to the camera. One becomes almost like the characters diary. I think this because they tell you everything, yet you play no part in the plot or their life.
The two monologues vary in the use of humour. ‘A Lady of Letters’ subject matter uses humour effectively whilst ‘A Cream Cracker under the Sofa’ has little humour. The situation of an old woman alone and in pain, condemning herself to death leaves little to laugh about. However a few moments for example are when Doris is lying distressed on the floor and a young boy enters her garden and she sees him ‘spending a penny’ she says:
“The cheeky monkey. He’s spending a penny. Hey.
Hey. Get out. Go on. You little Demon. Would you credit it? Inside our gate. Broad day light. The place’ll stink.”
Also Doris states:
“They ought to get their priorities right. They want learning that on their instruction course. Shouting about Jesus and leaving gates open. It’s hypocrisy is that. It is in my book anyway. ‘Love God and close all gates’.”
Most of the comedy in the two monologues is ironic humour. Irony is when the character says something then something happens that completely contradicts what they said for example, when Irene says:
“Prison, they have it easy, television, table tennis, art. It’s just a holiday camp, do you wonder there’s crime?”
Then when she is sent to prison she enjoys it, this is ironic.
The settings in both monologues are similar yet subtly different. For example they both start off in rooms that are old fashioned, but they are old fashioned in different ways because they are from different generations. Both the rooms have a focal point that is involved in the plot and the character concentrates on it. In ‘A Lady of Letters’ it is the window. Irene is near a window for almost the whole of the monologue this is because she is observing the social life of her community rather than taking part in it. In ‘A Cream Cracker under the Sofa’ the focal point is the fireplace. Doris injures herself while trying to dust it, she ends up next to it when she tries to go and make a cup of tea. Windows are also key in ‘A Cream Cracker under the Sofa’. Through the windows Doris sees the little boy ‘spending a penny’ and the police officer coming to help her.
There is a wide variety of connection between the two monologues. They both are about women who are trapped in some way. Irene is trapped by her anti-social letter writing and her lack of friends. You know that Irene has a lack of friends because she calls her pen “a real friend”. Doris is trapped by her obsession with hygiene and her old fashioned views. You can tell that Doris is obsessed with hygiene because she talks about how she had an argument with her deceased husband Wilfred about having a tree in the garden she says:
“‘Given the choice Wilfred I’d rather have concrete.’ He said concrete has no character.’ I said, ‘Never mind character, Wilfred, ‘Where does hygiene come on the agenda?’ With concrete you can feel easy in your mind”
This extract shows just how obsessed with hygiene Doris is and how it rules her decisions and her life. Another extract that demonstrates how obsessed with hygiene she is, is when she and Wilfred have a discussion about getting a dog:
“Hairs all up and down, then having to take it outside every five minutes. Wilfred said he would be prepared to undertake that responsibility. The dog would be his department. I said, ‘Yes, and whose province would all the little hairs be? ’
What they both need is friends and family, to distract Irene from the goings on of her neighbours and to stop her from sending letters and to give Doris companionship. Both monologues are about two women who are living by themselves and they both have lost a loved one, Doris her husband and Irene her mother.
Each monologue makes you feel sympathetic towards the characters involved because of the ordeal they have been through. At the end of ‘A Lady of Letters’ you feel happy for Irene because of her new found friends. At the end of ‘A Cream Cracker under the Sofa’ you are not sure if you should be happy for Doris because she avoids being sent to the old people’s home (Stafford House), or if you should feel sad for her because she dies.
The monologues have quite similar structures. Both the monologues start off in mid conversation leaving the audience confused as to what is happening and what the character is talking about. They also both finish with a summing up line. For ‘A Lady of Letters’ the finishing line is:
“…and I’m so happy”
The last line in ‘A Cream Cracker under the Sofa’ is:
“Never mind. It’s done with now, anyway.”
Both these lines give the audience a look at how the character views her decisions and their outcome.
The language used by the characters and written by Alan Bennett is quite varied and it is like a real conversation. It is not like someone is reading from a script. It is as though they are really making it up as they go along, because Alan Bennett has written in ‘thinking time’ and pauses for contemplation. The language that is used is the kind of language that women of those ages would be using. I noticed that the two characters speak quite similarly and have a similar vocabulary of words; for example, they both refer to children as “Kiddies”.
THE ENDINGS OF THE MONOLOGUES
How does each monologue end?
‘A Lady of Letters’ ends up with Irene in prison because her letters were a ‘breach of the peace’. Irene is pleased when she is sent to prison because she now has friends and a social life. Irene says:
“I’m friends with practically everyone …”
This is ironic because she is becoming friends with the type of people she used to complain about in her letters.
“The Cream Cracker under the Sofa” monologue ends with Doris turning down help from a policeman who appears at her window. He says:
“Hello. Hello”
(Doris opens her eyes but doesn’t speak.)
Are you all right?
(Pause)
No. I’m all right
Are you sure?
Yes
Your light was off.
I was having a nap.
Sorry. Take care.
(He goes)
Thank you
(Long pause)
You’ve done it now, Doris. Done it now, Wilfred.”
At the end of ‘A Cream Cracker under the Sofa’ Doris sings a song called ‘My Little Alice Blue Gown’. It was written in 1919 for a show that is ironically called ‘Irene’. This is because the main character of the other monologue (‘A Lady of Letters’) is Irene. Doris cannot remember all the words. They are as follows:
Verse 1
I once had a gown it was al-most new,
…and it wore, and it wore, and it wore,
till it went and it was-n’t no more.
Verse 2
…for there nev-er was an-y-thing like it be-fore,
and I don't dare hope there will be an-y-more,
but it’s gone ‘cause it just had to be,
still it wears in my memory.
Chorus
In my sweet lit-tle a-lice blue gown,
when I first wan-dered down into town,
I was both proud and shy,
…till it wilt-ed I wore it, I’ll al-ways a-dore it,
my sweet lit-tle a-lice blue gown.
This is Doris looking back and thinking of her childhood when she was a little girl.
Doris singing the song is another bit of key evidence showing that she is trapped by her past.
Another important bit at the end of the ‘Cream Cracker under the Sofa’ is the when Doris says:
“I wish I was in bed. All washed and in a clean nightie and the bottle in, all crisp and clean like when I was little on Baking Night, sat in front of the fire with my long hair still.”
Doris is reflecting on the happy times from her childhood and I think another reason she says this is because of her obsession with hygiene. When she is found dead she doesn’t want to be all dirty she wants to be “all washed and in a clean nightie”.
How is each character’s story brought to a close?
While Irene is in prison she “sailed through” the secretarial course. She achieved the prison’s first grade 1. When she leaves prison she plans to get a job in an office.
Doris’s story is brought to a close very suddenly and dramatically because at the end of the monologue she throws away her own life to avoid going to the old people’s home (Stafford House).
How does each ending reflect the characters situation or personality?
The pre-prison Irene was a very reclusive woman with no social life you can tell this because she says the line,
“At least it’s an outing”
It is said with regret and sadness. The audience also learns this when she calls her pen “a real friend”, implying that she does not have any.
However after she is sent to prison she is no longer reclusive but just as forceful-minded.
At the very beginning of the monologue Irene talks about how she is appalled by hearse drivers smoking outside a crematorium she visits. Then later when she is in prison she tries smoking herself. Irene says:
“They’ve got me smoking now and again as well.”
This shows how much being in prison has changed her because the pre-prison Irene never would have smoked. She referred to cigarettes as “tab-ends”.
What is the significance of the last few words?
The last few words in the ‘A Lady of Letters’ monologue are:
“And I’m so happy.”
Irene says that when she is describing what happens when her murderer roommate wakes up screaming. The ending of ‘Lady of letters’ is unusual. When you think of prison you generally assume that someone who is sent to prison is unhappy. However, Irene is happier in prison than she was out of prison. Prison is not designed to be seen as Irene sees it, a place of new horizons; it was meant to be punishment. This is similar to a ‘Cream Cracker under the Sofa’ because they both have a finishing sentence that sums up the character’s feelings about the endings of the monologues. The finishing sentence of a ‘Cream Cracker under the Sofa’ is:
“Never mind. It’s done with now, anyway.”
The significance of this is that this extract is that it shows that Doris knows that this is the end.
Was the ending positive or negative?
The ending of ‘A Lady of Letters’ is a positive ending for Irene because she finally has friends. It has a very happy ending. The audience feel very happy for her about her new life. Whereas in the ‘Cream Cracker under the Sofa’ you can view in two ways. It has a happy ending because she is not sent to Stafford House and it is sad because she dies at the end.
Could each of the monologues have ended differently?
An alternative ending for the ‘Lady of Letters’ monologues is that she might not have sent the last letter as the judge told her not to, then she would have remained alone, miserable and unhappy but free. This is a very plausible ending because if Irene had more self-restraint she would have been able to prevent herself from sending the letter. An alternate ending for ‘A Cream Cracker under the Sofa’ would be Doris accepting the policeman’s offer of help and likelihood of being sent unwillingly to Stafford House where she would live out the rest of her life perhaps in misery, she reacts to the home in the same way Irene reacts to prison. That is a possibility but is not the most probable thing that would happen because Doris strikes me as someone who is defiant to the last.
How are they supposed to make you feel?
The ending of a ‘Lady of Letters’ is supposed to make you feel happy for Irene. Alan Bennett wants you to empathise with Irene because everyone is lonely at some point in their life. Irene had been lonely ever since her mother died. I think Alan Bennett tries to make you feel sorry for Doris; this monologue reminded me that one day we will all become old and not be able to look after ourselves.
How does Bennett make the endings of the monologues dramatic?
Bennett makes the ending of a Lady of Letters dramatic because the audience does not find out immediately that she is in prison, they are kept in suspense because it is not known where she is or why she is here. Suspense is good in a play because it creates uncertainty in the audiences mind and makes them want to find out the outcome. The suspense builds up until Irene says:
“Lucille says, ‘you’re funny you, Irene. You don’t mind being in prison’. I said ‘Prison!’ I said ‘Lucille this is the first taste of freedom I’ve had in years.”
There are a few indications earlier on that she is in prison:
“I share a room with Bridget, who’s from Glasgow. She’s been a prostitute on and off and did away with her kiddy, accidentally, when she was drunk and upset.”
Drama is not the only reason that you don’t find out for so long that it’s a prison. Another reason is Irene herself, because she does not view prison as a form of imprisonment. She does not mention it because being in prison is not important to her. Her new friends have made her forget where she is and what they have done. For example when Irene talks about her friends murdering and prostitution in an off-hand way and she instead concentrates on the fact that:
“Her mother was blind, but made beautiful pastry and she raised a family of nine in three rooms.”
Another example of this is Irene’s friendship with the pyromaniac Shirley,
“She shouldn’t actually be in here in fact, she’s not all there, but there’s nowhere to put her. Apparently she sets fire to places…she’s got a good heart.”
Alan Bennett makes ‘A Cream Cracker under the Sofa’ dramatic by raising your hopes about Doris’s chances of being saved, but the audiences’ hopes are dashed when she tells the police officer she’s ok.
Summary
Monologues written and directed, as were both “A Cream Cracker under the Sofa’/‘A Lady of Letters’ provide audiences with thought-provoking drama. I enjoyed watching and studying in detail Alan Bennett’s monologues.
