Talking heads - alan bennet

In Bennett’s monologues the main character faces an important decision which will affect the course of their lives. I will go on and explain in this essay, the play writer’s use of literary techniques - including setting, theme and characterisation- which may make the decision seem correct or not. Talking Heads was originally produced for BBC television but has recently been used as a collection of short stories. Each of the characters portrayed, is played by an actress that has been previously associated with Alan Bennett e.g.:Thora Hird who plays Doris worked on a BBC Radio 4 programme - Deadringers .It is safe to say that Alan Bennett tailored some of the material, to suit the actors, own individual style of acting.

Each literal technique plays its own vital part of the story and to begin with I am going to look at how setting takes shape in the plays. Most of Bennett’s work is focused primarily in the North of England, mainly Yorkshire, partly because that is where he grew up and a Northern perceptive is shown throughout the monologues. While Bennett's "Englishness" and "Nor

But at a closer view, the three stories I am studying are set mainly in a few areas- A Chip in the Sugar is quite spread out over a distance(Lancashire, Durham and Yorkshire), whereas ‘A lady of Letters’ and ‘A Cream Cracker’ are set in the house of the persona. Setting greatly influences the characters behaviour and attitude, because they are Northerners, they are very traditional people who are stuck in their ways, and of course this opens the North- South Divide argument. We British (particularly the English) do not like change, which is shown from Oliver Cromwell right up to the modern day, whenever a change is suggested; it is controversial whether it is the Euro or changing the name of Coco pops to ‘Choco’ flakes. Bennett reflects this very well by transferring this British habit to his characters. All of them are dead against a change in their lifestyle. This is excellently demonstrated in ‘A Cream Cracker’- Doris wants to stay in her house, but the council recommends she moves to a nursing home , but she refuses on the grounds of hygiene-clearly this shows that she is against a change of setting and a change of life and this is cleverly portrayed throughout the plays.

How does Bennett connect their attitudes to the theme? As previously mentioned we know the characters are all single, they are either single because of a bereavement or of their own choice. So now this is the first aspect of their solitude which we have found out about. Is the isolation of the three personas really necessary? Doris’s husband died many years ago, but surely she could use the nursing home as a way of being sociable and meeting new people, but she decides to go it alone. As for Graham and Irene they have decided their status of being single. To me this is a case for gaining sympathy from other members of the community, but this may also take the form as an immature method of attention seeking. The theme has clearly been established this now shows how loneliness (theme) is linked to different areas of there personalities- which now gives us the chance to follow on to characterisation to study their attitudes and ideologies and how they are part of their identities and how this shows through to the reader,.

Some topics in this essay:
Cracker’- Doris, Talking Heads, Alan Bennett’s, Alan Bennett, Sugar’ Graham, Graham Irene, Britain Care, Oliver Cromwell, Regarding Doris, Heads Bennett’s, talking heads, alan bennett, graham irene, nursing home, self pity, british comedy, decision affect, social issues, ‘a cream,