Tag Archives: Alan Bennett

Writer: Alan Bennett Director: Philip Franks Reviewer: Michael Hootman The Habit of Art sees Alan Bennett stake his claim to the same theatrical territory inhabited by Tom Stoppard. Habit is very much a play of ideas. Or, to put it more bluntly, a play of too many ideas. It’s a play-within-a-play which examines the very idea of theatrical devices whilst ...

Writer: Alan Bennett Director: Philip Franks Designer: Adrian Linford Reviewer: Ron Simpson Aside from his wonderful monologues, Alan Bennett tends to write plays that are not what they seem, made up of seemingly irreconcilable elements: even the perennially popular History Boys goes off at what seems to be a bizarre tangent with a crippled presenter of television history shows. When ...

Alan Bennett’s The Habit of Art, a play within a play based on a fictional meeting between poet W.H Auden and composer Benjamin Britten, premiered at the National Theatre back in November 2009 with the production going on to tour in the Autumn of 2010. This year, the Original Theatre Company and York Theatre Royal will present the first ever ...

Writer – Alan Bennett Directors: James Brining, Amy Leach & John R Wilkinson Reviewer: Jay Nuttall It has been thirty years since the BBC commissioned a series of single voice plays from Leeds playwright Alan Bennett for BBC 2. These televisual treats became iconic, won BAFTAs, spawned a second volume of monologues and have been performed in theatres ever since. ...

Writer: Alan Bennett Directors: James Brining, Amy Leach, John R. Wilkinson Designer: Laura Ann Price Reviewer: Ron Simpson As West Yorkshire Playhouse prepares to close for a major refurbishment Artistic Director James Brining has opted to end with an appropriate, rather than original, choice of play, saving the originality for a performance schedule that re-affirms the theatre’s commitment to the ...

Writer: Adrian Marks Reviewer: Simon Topping It is 2003 as the audience join the queue to meet Gandalf for the upcoming signing of the official movie companion to The Two Towers, due to take place the following day.  Front of the line is Kevin Brook, self-confessed fanatic of all things Lord of the Rings, a seemingly unassuming young man in ...

Writer: Alan Bennett Director: Ben Occhipinti Reviewer: May Mellstrom Alan Bennett's series Talking Heads showcased the art of the monologue on television to great acclaim; here, three of those mini-masterpieces make the leap from screen to stage in the Octagon's quietly captivating production. The television format has its benefits, camera close-ups provide a window into each characters world that the ...

Writer: Alan Bennett Director: Daniel Evans Reviewer: Simon Topping This is Daniel Evans’ first outing for Chichester Festival theatre as their new artistic director and in his selection of Alan Bennett’s first foray into full-length playwriting, Forty Years On, the audience are treated to an excellent selection of amusing and poignant set pieces that capture the past. It is 1968 and ...