It seems to me that it is always a perfect time of year for an Alan Bennett celebration. England’s local hero highly acclaimed author and playwright Alan Bennett will celebrate fifty years as a writer and performer in 2010.
Alan Bennett
His incredible wit and stylish writing first surfaced with his 1960 satirical stage revue Beyond the Fringe. Since that time Alan Bennett’s contribution to literature, and the art of performance has been particularly poignant and very profound.
His Untold Stories was described by Nigel Slater of the Observer as ‘not only my book of the year: it is my book of the decade‘. This simply marvelous compilation had at the core of its collection of short stories a moving family memoir: an emotional, witty and sometimes outright funny recollection of his childhood….and of his father who ‘never drove to church because Mam thought the sacrament might make him incapable of the return journey’.
Produced as ‘A Life Like Other People’s’ it was recently published as a stand alone piece jointly by faber and faber and Profile Books in the same appealing small book format as last year’s highly acclaimed Alan Bennett success ‘The Uncommon Reader’.
The perfect all year round present, ‘A Life Like Other People’s’ is a delightfully funny work of autobiography, one that can be enjoyed completely on the couch on a rainy Sunday afternoon
Bennett’s dramatic series of monologues Talking Heads gained national and international success and the admiration of critics and audiences alike when it was produced for BBC Television in 1988 and 1998 respectively.
Maggie Smith, Bed Among the Lentils, a monologue from Talking Heads
For my part having the joy of seeing actor Maggie Smith on stage in one of the most famous of these ‘Bed among the Lentils’ was, and will for me always remain one of my most special life experiences.
It was in the early 90’s when Bennett adapted Kenneth Grahame’s magical tale of The Wind in the Willows for the National Theatre and followed it up with his amazing play The Madness of George III
The play became the 1994 movie The Madness of King George winning rave reviews and awards for its stars actors Dame Helen Mirren and Sir Nigel Hawthorne.
His award winning The History Boys, again for England’s National Theatre in 2004, gained a huge following when it became a simply splendid movie in 2006.
Stephen Campbell Moore as Irwin, Frances de la Tour as Mrs Lintott and Richard Griffiths as Hector with The History Boys
This mixture of intellect and interaction between students and their educators while they vie for a coveted place at one of England’s finest universities is nothing short of brilliant and filled with many pithy and witty quotes.
Who will ever forget the great line ‘History is a commentary on the various and continuing incapabilities of men. What is history? History is women following behind with the bucket’. delivered by actress Frances de la Tour playing Mrs Lintott.
The wonderful news from London is that the best of Bennett is far from over. He has a new play, The Habit of Art about an encounter between WH Auden and Benjamin Britten, towards the end of their lives.
The play apparently reflects on growing old, creativity and inspiration, and on the value of persistence when all passion’s spent: ultimately, on the habit of art.
Let’s hope someone produces it here in Australia soon.
‘Pass it on, ‘just pass it on’….said Hector in the History Boys.
Carolyn McDowall, Christmas 2009
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