Talking Heads

A rare treat to watch three Monologues by Alan Bennett with” A Cream Cracker under the Settee”.”Her Big Chance” and “ A Lady of Letters”.

All were very well staged and with a different set for each monologue it was a credit to the stage crew with the very efficient manner in which the sets were cleared.

Gina Macmillan as Doris in “A Cream Cracker etc” played this role in a feisty manner as an elderly lady living in a small flat, having a home help, Zulema who does not clean as well as Doris would have liked, but is allocated to her just to keep an eye to her welfare.

Doris has a bad fall and her resolution in trying to cope was so well played. A real gem of a part with such a lot of dialogue to learn, which Doris and the following two ladies dealt with so efficiently with no prompts was a triumph.

The second monologue  “ Her Big Chance” with Lea Friend as Lesley an actress who has rather  high opinion of her acting skills, but in reality is just a small time actress trying to find favour with Directors and anyone who can promote her future with large companies of repute.

Lea was excellent in this character, her dialogue was very varied and lively, and her interpretation of an actress hoping to break into the big time very well played.

As mentioned before all three solo performances had so much to learn and with around 30-40 minutes on stage alone is quite an achievement.

The last solo performance  “A Lady of Letters” played so well  by Jenni Horn, as a spinster lady who was very correct in an old fashioned style. Her standards were so high, and she wrote letters constantly for anything and everything which did not please her, or meet with these standards but in so doing stirred up an awful lot of trouble by not always getting her facts correct with neighbours, and reporting scenes witnessed from her living room window to officials which eventually led to her facing a court case with a ultimate sad ending.

Jennie gave real meaning to this very correct lady and was word perfect.

 I enjoyed all three sections, and as always such a high standard is presented from the talented Manifest Theatre Group.

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