People by Alan Bennett
Jul. 16th, 2016 11:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
A sale? Why not? Release all your wonderful treasures on to the open market and they are there for everyone to enjoy. It’s a kind of emancipation, a setting them free to range the world … a saleroom here, an exhibition there; art, Lady Stacpoole, is a rover.
People spoil things; there are so many of them and the last thing one wants is them traipsing through one’s house. But with the park a jungle and a bath on the billiard table, what is one to do? Dorothy wonders if an attic sale could be a solution.
Alan Bennett’s People premiered at the National Theatre, London, in October 2012.
First staged in October 2012 at the National Theatre in London, PEOPLE, was inspired by Alan Bennett’s distaste for the National Trust and voyeurism of other people’s lives coupled with the commoditisation of privacy. He writes a fascinating introduction to this play, describing some of the thought processes behind its creation and linking it back to themes in other works that he’s produced. The play itself is a thin affair. Lady Dorothy Stacpoole and her sister Iris live in their ancestral home – a large country house that’s seen better days. Their sister, June, is keen to transfer the house to the National Trust on condition that Dorothy and Iris continue to live there, but Dorothy is desperate to find another way … As you’d expect from a Bennett play, there are moments of high comedy and bittersweet emotion – especially the end, which I admit made me sniff a bit and where I can completely imagine Frances de la Tour’s customary magnificent performance. However, there really isn’t much here and while the moments of farce are well constructed, they can’t mask the fact the lack of underlying material. Ultimately, I did enjoy this but it’s more for Bennett completionists that those looking for something substantial.
The Verdict:
First staged in October 2012 at the National Theatre in London, PEOPLE, was inspired by Alan Bennett’s distaste for the National Trust and voyeurism of other people’s lives coupled with the commoditisation of privacy. He writes a fascinating introduction to this play, describing some of the thought processes behind its creation and linking it back to themes in other works that he’s produced but the play itself is a thin affair and although the humour is well crafted, the underlying material is thin. This is one for Bennett completionists more than casual readers.
People spoil things; there are so many of them and the last thing one wants is them traipsing through one’s house. But with the park a jungle and a bath on the billiard table, what is one to do? Dorothy wonders if an attic sale could be a solution.
Alan Bennett’s People premiered at the National Theatre, London, in October 2012.
First staged in October 2012 at the National Theatre in London, PEOPLE, was inspired by Alan Bennett’s distaste for the National Trust and voyeurism of other people’s lives coupled with the commoditisation of privacy. He writes a fascinating introduction to this play, describing some of the thought processes behind its creation and linking it back to themes in other works that he’s produced. The play itself is a thin affair. Lady Dorothy Stacpoole and her sister Iris live in their ancestral home – a large country house that’s seen better days. Their sister, June, is keen to transfer the house to the National Trust on condition that Dorothy and Iris continue to live there, but Dorothy is desperate to find another way … As you’d expect from a Bennett play, there are moments of high comedy and bittersweet emotion – especially the end, which I admit made me sniff a bit and where I can completely imagine Frances de la Tour’s customary magnificent performance. However, there really isn’t much here and while the moments of farce are well constructed, they can’t mask the fact the lack of underlying material. Ultimately, I did enjoy this but it’s more for Bennett completionists that those looking for something substantial.
The Verdict:
First staged in October 2012 at the National Theatre in London, PEOPLE, was inspired by Alan Bennett’s distaste for the National Trust and voyeurism of other people’s lives coupled with the commoditisation of privacy. He writes a fascinating introduction to this play, describing some of the thought processes behind its creation and linking it back to themes in other works that he’s produced but the play itself is a thin affair and although the humour is well crafted, the underlying material is thin. This is one for Bennett completionists more than casual readers.
