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 ...  Read the complete review

'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 ...  Read the complete review

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' - ...  Read the complete review

When Bennett's first series of Talking Heads came out, I remember thinking out refreshing it was. Bennett has a style unlike any other author. Bennet manages to tell the viewer or reader something without actually having to say it and his monologues are all the more poignant and funny for that. He has written on all sorts of subjects and all of them are tragi-comedies. They have never failed to get a laugh out of me, even though inevitably I will end up in tears. Wonderful stories of brave but ordinary people living ordinary yet extrordinary lives. Very clever and very funny. ...  Read the complete review

I was really unaware of Alan Bennett until I saw one of his Talking Heads monologues on the television, and I was intrigued. It was very strange that something without visual action, and only one character should be so absorbing and compelling. I'm not a fan of Thora Hird, but his casting of her in 'A Cream Cracker under the Settee was superb. I then received the complete book of Talking Heads as a present. I think the thing I admire and like most about these monologues is that all the characters are very tragic in their own way. They are truly human - you find yourself able to relate to them on some levels, and find them bizarre. You are always, of course, ...  Read the complete review