Talking Heads - Alan Bennett

To say that I?m a bit of a Bennett fan is something of an understatement and it was this particular offering that holds the blame! Talking Heads, a set of six monologues, was published and televised in 1988 and held captivated a 15 year old with no particular interest in books or plays ? it has remained one of my favourite pieces of writing by any author ever since. Not that the ?stories? found within the book are plays in the strictest sense of the word. As Bennett (70 in May!) explains in the introduction, a play allows you to see things from the perspective of several featured characters. In a monologue you are reliant upon the ...

'Talking Heads' was first published in 1988 and is a collection of the original six monologues Alan Bennett wrote for his famous television series. 'Brought up in the provinces in the forties and fifties,' writes Bennett in the enjoyable introduction. 'One learned early the valuable lesson that life is generally something that happens elsewhere.' This introduction is quite amusing as Bennett tells us, amongst other things, that Postmen now look to him like members of the Rumanian Airforce and his mother's definition of 'common' was Viv Nicholson, the infamous pools winner and author of 'Spend, Spend, Spend'. The monologues themselves are all gently funny but often very ...

This collection of monologues, by Alan Bennett, is one of the funniest, yet tragic books I have ever read. It was originally written for the television (BBC) and was broadcast in 1989. The collection consists of six different monologues, each capturing the recurring themes that are so important in maintaining the excellence within these stories. Recurring themes include loneliness, alienation, isolation, unhappiness, and lack of self-knowledge. The first one, "A chip in the sugar" is about a middle aged man, Graham, who lives with his mother. We gradually learn that he has long-term mental health problems, and has to take 'tablets' - ...