“Talking Heads” is a series of monologues written by possibly the greatest living British playwright, Alan Bennett, for the BBC. The BBC series starred such fantastic actors as Maggie Smith, Patricia Routledge, Stephanie Cole and Julie Walters. Tonight’s performances were provided by Jan Ravens, known mostly for her voice work on Spitting Image and Dead Ringers, and Julia Watson who is probably best known for her work in the BBC drama Casualty.
The first of the 3 performances was from Ravens who plays a lonely elderly woman who spends her life writing complaint letters to just about every person or company she encounters. She constantly misunderstands behaviours towards her with some very funny consequences. She clearly finds comfort in receiving responses, whether positive or negative towards her. Ultimately she finds herself at odds with the police and spends time behind bars – albeit still with her continual positive negativity towards others, you could easily imagine her writing those same letters to her fellow inmates.
The first of the monologues concludes but there is a small amount of time to reflect on Bennett’s writing which only dates because of the lack of digital references, the story of mental health and loneliness is still as fresh today as it was when it was written back in the late 1980s.
Next to the stage was Watson with her portrayal of a vicar’s wife who doesn’t believe in God – and most definitely doesn’t like her husband. Her only friend seems to be a bottle of vodka which she clearly meets with on an all too frequent basis. She describes her husband, the vicar, in some very derogatory ways and shows him as a middle class misogynist who has very little interest in her or her life. She eventually finds someone who shows an interest in her, Ramesh an Indian shopkeeper who's no doubt the one is serving her with the large quantities of alcohol.
In truth the second of the monologues doesn’t hit anywhere near the same heights as the first. One wonders perhaps if the storyline might have been much more shocking back in the 1980s – a vicar’s wife and an Indian shopkeeper having an affair – but in today’s society this is not the case. Watson played the part very well but had much less to work with in this act.
Ravens returns after the interval for the third and final monologue of the evening, the story of a wealthy widow who was a pillar of the community, a very regular charity volunteer for meals on wheels and a carer for her mentally ill daughter. She falls foul of her son’s business acumen as he systematically loses the family fortune through ineptitude and later dishonesty. She soldiers on through her daughter’s illness despite the shocking secret behind it.
Jan Ravens is without doubt the star of this show and delivers a superb performance in both of her monologues. She plays those parts as close to the originals of Routledge and Smith as you could possibly imagine and it is to her credit that she pulls it off. Watson did an admirable job with the weakest of the monologues but is most definitely overshadowed by her co-performer.
Overall this was an enjoyable evening and shows that much of Bennett’s writing is as relevant today as it was when it was written. Some of the writing is dated but then that is because the world has changed and in particular the digital revolution has not only happened but has been reinvented several times since he penned these words.
Reviewer - John Fish
on - 11/3/20
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