TALKING HEADS
Three monologues by Alan Bennett

A Lady of Letters - Julie Davies

A Chip in the Sugar - Jim Trainor

Bed Among the Lentils - Thisbe Burns

(V.O. EN INGLES)

TEATRO ESTUDIO LIBERARTE

C/ Francisca Conde, 14

Metro: Estrecho / Ventilla

4th, 5th, 11th & 12th NOVEMBER, 9.00pm

FOUR PERFORMANCES ONLY!

AT THEATRE (12€)

Tlf: 917330029//687938505

www.teatroliberarte.com

info@teatroliberarte.com

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GROUP DISCOUNTS (6,50€) FOR ACADEMIC GROUPS

(Escuelas de Idiomas, language schools, schools and universities)
Ensure your students get seats and you get the Teachers' Pack!
For more information please contact: 3talkingheads@gmail.com.

The actors in TALKING HEADS will be familiar to Madrid theatre-goers from their work in companies such as The Madrid Players, White Light, and Jujijo, amongst others. We chose the monologues because we are huge Bennett fans and because we love the humour, sensitivity and poignancy of the pieces. We have interwoven them in such as way as to make the show lighter and more digestible than an evening of three "solid" monologues - and because they work wonderfully that way!

Alan Bennett has long been considered a “national treasure” and he is one of Britain’s best-loved playwrights. He began his life-long involvement in theatre in the Cambridge Footlights and, along with Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Jonathan Miller, he wrote and performed the comedy review Beyond the Fringe at the 1960 Edinburgh Festival. It was the launch-pad for their subsequent rise to fame and fortune.

As well as an actor, Bennett is also a prolific author and playwright. Perhaps his best-known works to non-Brits are The History Boys which was made into a film starring Richard Griffiths, in 1986, and The Madness of George III, also turned into a movie in 1994, earning Academy Awards for both Nigel Hawthorne and Helen Mirren.

Bennett wrote a total of six Talking Heads monologues for the BBC in 1988. They are all set in Bennett’s home-county, Yorkshire. These beautifully observed portraits of very real - but rather unusual – characters all contain a slight twist. Bennett considered that both Bed Among the Lentils, first performed by Maggie Smith, and A Chip in the Sugar (which he himself performed in the BBC version), could easily have been written for theatre. Along with A Lady of Letters, which originally starred Patricia Routledge, they certainly work beautifully on stage. Pignantly funny, the audience feels empathy with the characters - sometimes despite themselves.

Words+Voices is delighted to present these three modern English classics.

A Lady of Letters - Julie Davies

Miss Ruddock lives on her own. Her keen interest in everything around her is expressed in the numerous letters she writes every day – to the local paper, the funeral director, the optician – complaining about what she considers to be infringements or offences. She is particularly concerned about her new neighbours, a young couple (he wears a tattoo, and they are both out until all hours), and their young son, who might just be the victim of child abuse...

A Chip in the Sugar - Jim Trainor

Graham is a middle-aged man who lives at home with his mother. He has his own habits and routine and a record of mental ill-health. His peaceful life is suddenly disrupted when his mother meets an old flame, Mr. Turnbull. As the newcomer gradually carves himself a place in Mother’s life, Graham’s jealousy becomes obsessive - and Mr. Turnbull, the enemy. The balance must somehow be restored

Bed Among the Lentils - Thisbe Burns

Susan is married to the vicar of a small village in Yorkshire. Her husband, Geoffrey, is worshipped by his parishoners – particularly female ones of a certain age. Susan, however, feels frustrated by many aspects of her life. She finds some consolation in wine, including that which her husband keeps in the vestry for communion purposes... When the local off-licence refuses to serve her because of her unpaid tab, Susan gets in the car and drives to Leeds to buy a bottle. She makes the acquaintance of an Indian grocer, Mr. Ramesh. Their subsequent relationship reveals hitherto unsuspected facets of God, sex and her own life.

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Julie Davies

Jim Trainor

Thisbe Burns

Thisbe Burns, Julie Davies and Jim Trainor are no newcomers to the Madrid stage. They have all entertained theatre-goers for a number of years, performing in companies that include The Madrid Players, JuJiJo, White Light Theatre Company or ACT. Their voices, too, will be familiar to many: Jim is perhaps the most widely-recognized voice on Vaughan Radio, Julie is also a singer and has performed in several cabarets and shows, including a Stephen Sondheim showcase in Clamores Jazz Club, while Thisbe has voiced films, language courses, audio books and radio ads – and even the sales at El Corte Inglés!