Talking Heads
Fri, 13 Apr 2012, 11:05 amGordon the Optom1 post in thread
Talking Heads
Fri, 13 Apr 2012, 11:05 am‘Talking Heads’ is show comprising three tales from the series of a dozen short monologues by British playwright Alan Bennett. These monologues have been included in the A-level and GCSE English Literature syllabi.
Alan Bennett was born into a blue-collar family in Armley, Yorkshire in 1934. He started by studying languages at Cambridge before transferring to Oxford. Whilst he was studying medieval history, he performed in the students’ ‘Oxford Revue’. Later, as a university academic, along with his friends Dudley Moore, Jonathan Miller and Peter Cook he created ‘Beyond the Fringe’, a satirical revue for the 1960 Edinburgh Festival. This show then went on to London and New York.
His serious writings started in 1968, and included classics such as ‘The History Boys’ and ‘The Madness of George III’.
These truly beautifully constructed plays are showing at the Limelight Theatre, Civic Drive in Wanneroo, nightly at 8.00 pm until Saturday 28th April.
‘Her Big Chance’ starring Susannah Devenish
Stunning Lesley is a gullible actress, who has appeared in a few episode of the British TV soapie ‘Crossroads’, along with one major film that was directed by Roman Polanski. Now she has just auditioned for the part of Travis in a film that is for the ‘specialised’ foreign market, although she doesn’t seem to be too sure what that means. How will the filming go?
Susannah was delightful as the air-headed actress, who didn’t realise the path that she was going down. With a twinkle in her eye, she conveyed the adoration that she had for the various directors and crew. Great fun, excellent acting, but not quite in this specialised genre. Please see the general comments later.
‘A Chip in the Sugar’ starring David Nelson
Middle-aged Graham still lives at home and is real Mummy’s boy. When out one day with his Mum, now in her 60s, she falls in the street. As Graham is helping her up, an old boyfriend, Frank Turnbull, steps out of the crowd.
Mr Turnbull jokes with Graham’s Mum about the old days; there had obviously been an extremely ‘close’ relationship. How will Graham cope with this unwanted complication?
David gave a superb performance as the weak son, who was desperate to share his problem with a close friend – the audience. Wonderful connection and delivery, although a much slower pace would be even more effective.
‘Bed among the Lentils’ starring Sue Mainwaring
Frumpy Susan, dressed in beige and brown, is the wife of a country town vicar. Bored with life and fed up with being considered as righteous as her husband, she turns to alcohol. Not daring to buy her tipple locally, she travels to a deli in Leeds. Here she meets the owner, Ramesh, and like a flower she blossoms.
Sue has really conquered the genre of this monologue. This is the best version of ‘Lentils’ that I have seen in the last 20 years, the last being performed by Shona Weeks. The intimacy and pace were perfect.
The set (Robert Benson-Parry and David Browning) is similar for all of the plays. The stage has been reduced to half the normal width, with all the flats painted matt black to help the audience focus on the actor. The props (Ros Guye) were plain white or black furniture, with some bright colour coming from the few set dressings (Polly Waugh).
The large range of costumes for the three plays was very varied, but Joyce Gilbert has chosen well, each creating the character perfectly. The sound (Alaric Korb) was well-selected music from the 70s. The lighting (Robert Benson-Parry and David Browning) was above average, with some precise cues carefully executed.
All three plays were attentively and considerately directed by Gwen Browning. Gwen has chosen three of the less dark monologues that are certainly a lot more light-hearted than some of the extremely disturbing tales in the later series.
To learn the lines of a 30 – 40 minutes monologue takes a special breed of actor. The task must be horrendous. The three actors were all word perfect, conquered their characters beautifully, with delightful expressions and mannerisms. The vocal characterisation as they changed with the temperament and nature of the people in their stories was terrific.
Bennett’s ‘Talking Heads’ calls for a unique style of monologue delivery. The stories should be delivered quietly and intimately as though speaking, or gossiping, to one person. Imagine you are a sole visitor in the sitting room of a private house, chatting with a good friend, the delivery would be slower than usual, as you recall the events as you go - this also helps the audience with character changes.
On my way home, a lady was ‘phoning in to Tony Delroy’s 720 radio programme and telling him how she was flying over to the west to see her daughter in ‘Talking Heads’. She will be a most proud Mum.
Three superb performances, which with a slight tweak will be outstanding. Congratulations to all.
‘Talking Heads’ is show comprising three tales from the series of a dozen short monologues by British playwright Alan Bennett. These monologues have been included in the A-level and GCSE English Literature syllabi.
Alan Bennett was born into a blue-collar family in Armley, Yorkshire in 1934. He started by studying languages at Cambridge before transferring to Oxford. Whilst he was studying medieval history, he performed in the students’ ‘Oxford Revue’. Later, as a university academic, along with his friends Dudley Moore, Jonathan Miller and Peter Cook he created ‘Beyond the Fringe’, a satirical revue for the 1960 Edinburgh Festival. This show then went on to London and New York.
His serious writings started in 1968, and included classics such as ‘The History Boys’ and ‘The Madness of George III’.
These truly beautifully constructed plays are showing at the Limelight Theatre, Civic Drive in Wanneroo, nightly at 8.00 pm until Saturday 28th April.
‘Her Big Chance’ starring Susannah Devenish
Stunning Lesley is a gullible actress, who has appeared in a few episode of the British TV soapie ‘Crossroads’, along with one major film that was directed by Roman Polanski. Now she has just auditioned for the part of Travis in a film that is for the ‘specialised’ foreign market, although she doesn’t seem to be too sure what that means. How will the filming go?
Susannah was delightful as the air-headed actress, who didn’t realise the path that she was going down. With a twinkle in her eye, she conveyed the adoration that she had for the various directors and crew. Great fun, excellent acting, but not quite in this specialised genre. Please see the general comments later.
‘A Chip in the Sugar’ starring David Nelson
Middle-aged Graham still lives at home and is real Mummy’s boy. When out one day with his Mum, now in her 60s, she falls in the street. As Graham is helping her up, an old boyfriend, Frank Turnbull, steps out of the crowd.
Mr Turnbull jokes with Graham’s Mum about the old days; there had obviously been an extremely ‘close’ relationship. How will Graham cope with this unwanted complication?
David gave a superb performance as the weak son, who was desperate to share his problem with a close friend – the audience. Wonderful connection and delivery, although a much slower pace would be even more effective.
‘Bed among the Lentils’ starring Sue Mainwaring
Frumpy Susan, dressed in beige and brown, is the wife of a country town vicar. Bored with life and fed up with being considered as righteous as her husband, she turns to alcohol. Not daring to buy her tipple locally, she travels to a deli in Leeds. Here she meets the owner, Ramesh, and like a flower she blossoms.
Sue has really conquered the genre of this monologue. This is the best version of ‘Lentils’ that I have seen in the last 20 years, the last being performed by Shona Weeks. The intimacy and pace were perfect.
The set (Robert Benson-Parry and David Browning) is similar for all of the plays. The stage has been reduced to half the normal width, with all the flats painted matt black to help the audience focus on the actor. The props (Ros Guye) were plain white or black furniture, with some bright colour coming from the few set dressings (Polly Waugh).
The large range of costumes for the three plays was very varied, but Joyce Gilbert has chosen well, each creating the character perfectly. The sound (Alaric Korb) was well-selected music from the 70s. The lighting (Robert Benson-Parry and David Browning) was above average, with some precise cues carefully executed.
All three plays were attentively and considerately directed by Gwen Browning. Gwen has chosen three of the less dark monologues that are certainly a lot more light-hearted than some of the extremely disturbing tales in the later series.
To learn the lines of a 30 – 40 minutes monologue takes a special breed of actor. The task must be horrendous. The three actors were all word perfect, conquered their characters beautifully, with delightful expressions and mannerisms. The vocal characterisation as they changed with the temperament and nature of the people in their stories was terrific.
Bennett’s ‘Talking Heads’ calls for a unique style of monologue delivery. The stories should be delivered quietly and intimately as though speaking, or gossiping, to one person. Imagine you are a sole visitor in the sitting room of a private house, chatting with a good friend, the delivery would be slower than usual, as you recall the events as you go - this also helps the audience with character changes.
On my way home, a lady was ‘phoning in to Tony Delroy’s 720 radio programme and telling him how she was flying over to the west to see her daughter in ‘Talking Heads’. She will be a most proud Mum.
Three superb performances, which with a slight tweak will be outstanding. Congratulations to all.