Alan Bennett is a British playwright, screenwriter, actor and author. Born in Leeds, he attended Oxford University where he studied history and performed with
The Oxford RevueThe Oxford Revue is a comedy group featuring students from Oxford University, England. Founded in the early 1950s, The Oxford Revue has produced many prominent comedians and satirists. The Revue writes, produces and performs several shows each term...
. He stayed to teach and research mediaeval history at the university for several years. His collaboration as writer and performer with
Dudley MooreDudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...
,
Jonathan MillerSir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE is a British theatre and opera director, author, physician, television presenter, humorist and sculptor. Trained as a physician in the late 1950s, he first came to prominence in the 1960s with his role in the comedy revue Beyond the Fringe with fellow writers and...
and
Peter CookPeter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's...
in the satirical revue
Beyond the FringeBeyond the Fringe was a British comedy stage revue written and performed by Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, and Jonathan Miller. It played in London's West End and then on New York's Broadway in the early 1960s, and is widely regarded as seminal to the rise of satire in 1960s Britain.-The...
at the 1960
Edinburgh FestivalThe Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
brought him instant fame. He gave up academia, and turned to writing full time, his first stage play
Forty Years OnForty Years On is a 1968 play by Alan Bennett. It was his first West End play.-Subject:The play is set in a British public school called Albion House , which is putting on an end of term play in front of the parents, i.e. the audience...
being produced in 1968.
His output includes The Madness of George III and its film incarnation
The Madness of King GeorgeThe Madness of King George is a 1994 film directed by Nicholas Hytner and adapted by Alan Bennett from his own play, The Madness of George III. It tells the true story of George III's deteriorating mental health, and his equally declining relationship with his son, the Prince of Wales, particularly...
, the series of monologues Talking Heads, the play
The History BoysThe History Boys is a play by British playwright Alan Bennett. The play premiered at the Lyttelton Theatre in London on 18 May 2004. Its Broadway debut was on 23 April 2006 at the Broadhurst Theatre where there were 185 performances staged before it closed on 1 October 2006.The play won multiple...
, and popular audio books, including his readings of
Alice's Adventures in WonderlandAlice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...
and
Winnie-the-PoohWinnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear, is a fictional anthropomorphic bear created by A. A. Milne. The first collection of stories about the character was the book Winnie-the-Pooh , and this was followed by The House at Pooh Corner...
.
Early life
Bennett was born in
ArmleyArmley is a district in the west of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It starts less than a mile from Leeds city centre. Like much of Leeds, Armley grew in the industrial revolution and had several mills, one of which is now the Armley Mills museum...
in
LeedsLeeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
,
West Riding of YorkshireThe West Riding of Yorkshire is one of the three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county, County of York, West Riding , was based closely on the historic boundaries...
. The son of a
co-opThe Co-operative Group Ltd. is a United Kingdom consumer cooperative with a diverse range of business interests. It is co-operatively run and owned by its members. It is the largest organisation of this type in the world, with over 5.5 million members, who all have a say in how the business is...
butcher, Bennett attended Christ Church, Upper Armley, Church of England School (in the same class as
Barbara Taylor BradfordBarbara Taylor Bradford OBE is an English novelist, and one of the world's most beloved storytellers. Her debut novel, A Woman of Substance, was published in 1979 and has sold over 32 million copies worldwide. To date, she has written 27 novels -- all bestsellers on both sides of the Atlantic...
) and then
Leeds Modern SchoolLeeds Modern School in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England was founded on 14 July 1845 by Mr S. Twist in Rossington Street as the Mathematical and Commercial School...
(now
Lawnswood SchoolLawnswood School is a state comprehensive school in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It has about 1500 male and female pupils, aged 11–18. It is a specialist Maths and Computing College. The sixth form was deemed extremely good in the most recent Ofsted inspection in 2009, however the...
), learned Russian at the
Joint Services School for LinguistsThe Joint Services School for Linguists was founded in 1951 by the British armed services to provide language training, principally in Russian, and largely to selected conscripts undergoing National Service...
during his
National ServiceNational service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...
and gained a place at
Sidney Sussex College, CambridgeSidney Sussex College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England.The college was founded in 1596 and named after its foundress, Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex. It was from its inception an avowedly Puritan foundation: some good and godlie moniment for the mainteynance...
. However, having spent time in Cambridge during national service, and partly wishing to follow the object of his unrequited love, he decided to apply for a scholarship at Oxford University. He was accepted by
Exeter College, OxfordExeter College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth oldest college of the University. The main entrance is on the east side of Turl Street...
from which he graduated with a first-class degree in history. While at Oxford he performed comedy with a number of eventually successful actors in the
Oxford RevueThe Oxford Revue is a comedy group featuring students from Oxford University, England. Founded in the early 1950s, The Oxford Revue has produced many prominent comedians and satirists. The Revue writes, produces and performs several shows each term...
. He was to remain at the university for several years, where he researched and taught Mediaeval History, before deciding he was not cut out to be an academic.
Career
In August 1960, Bennett, along with
Dudley MooreDudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...
,
Jonathan MillerSir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE is a British theatre and opera director, author, physician, television presenter, humorist and sculptor. Trained as a physician in the late 1950s, he first came to prominence in the 1960s with his role in the comedy revue Beyond the Fringe with fellow writers and...
, and
Peter CookPeter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's...
, achieved instant fame by appearing at the
Edinburgh FestivalThe Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
in the
satiricalSatire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
revue
Beyond the FringeBeyond the Fringe was a British comedy stage revue written and performed by Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, and Jonathan Miller. It played in London's West End and then on New York's Broadway in the early 1960s, and is widely regarded as seminal to the rise of satire in 1960s Britain.-The...
. After the Festival, the show continued in London and New York. He also appeared in My Father Knew Lloyd George. A highly regarded television comedy sketch series
On the MarginOn the Margin was a British satirical comedy sketch show written and performed by Alan Bennett and a regular cast including John Sergeant, Virginia Stride, Madge Hindle and Yvonne Gilan. Guest performers included John Fortune and Jonathan Miller...
(1966) was unfortunately erased; the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
re-used expensive videotape rather than keep it in the archives.
Around this time, Bennett often found himself playing vicars and claims that as an adolescent he assumed he would grow up to be a
Church of EnglandThe Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
clergyman, for no better reason than that he looked like one.
Bennett's first stage play,
Forty Years OnForty Years On is a 1968 play by Alan Bennett. It was his first West End play.-Subject:The play is set in a British public school called Albion House , which is putting on an end of term play in front of the parents, i.e. the audience...
directed by
Patrick Garlandthumb|right|200pxPatrick Garland is a British actor, writer, and director.Garland started Poetry International in 1963 with Ted Hughes and Charles Osborne. He was a director and producer for the BBC's Music and Arts Department , and worked on its Monitor series...
was produced in 1968. Many television, stage and radio plays followed, with screenplays, short stories, novellas, a large body of non-fictional prose and broadcasting and many appearances as an actor.
Bennett's distinctive, expressive voice (which bears a strong Leeds accent) and the sharp humour and evident humanity of his writing have made his readings of his work very popular, especially the autobiographical writings. Bennett's readings of the Winnie the Pooh stories are also widely enjoyed.
Many of Bennett's characters are unfortunate and downtrodden. Life has brought them to an impasse or else passed them by. In many cases they have met with disappointment in the realm of sex and intimate relationships, largely through tentativeness and a failure to connect with others.
Bennett is both unsparing and compassionate in laying bare his characters' frailties. This can be seen in his television plays for LWT in the late 1970s and the BBC in the early 1980s and in the 1987 Talking Heads series of monologues for television which were later performed at the Comedy Theatre in London in 1992. This was a sextet of poignantly comic pieces, each depicting several stages in the character's decline from an initial state of denial or ignorance of their predicament, through a slow realisation of the hopelessness of their situation, progressing to a bleak or ambiguous conclusion. A second set of six Talking Heads followed a decade later, which was darker and more disturbing.
In his 2005 prose collection Untold Stories Bennett has written candidly and movingly of the mental illness that afflicted his mother and other family members. Much of his work draws on his Leeds background and while he is celebrated for his acute observations of a particular type of northern speech ("It'll take more than Dairy Box to banish memories of Pearl Harbor"), the range and daring of his work is often undervalued – his television play The Old Crowd includes shots of the director and technical crew, while his stage play The Lady in the Van includes two characters named Alan Bennett.
The Lady in the Van was based on his experiences with a tramp called Miss Shepherd who lived on Bennett's driveway in several dilapidated vans for over fifteen years. A radio play of the same title was broadcast on 21 February 2009 on BBC Radio 4, with actress
Maggie SmithDame Margaret Natalie Smith, DBE , better known as Maggie Smith, is an English film, stage, and television actress who made her stage debut in 1952 and is still performing after 59 years...
reprising her role of Miss Shepherd and Alan Bennett playing himself. The work has also been published in book form. Alan Bennett also adapted "The Lady in the Van" for the stage.
Bennett adapted his 1991 play The Madness of George III for the cinema. Entitled
The Madness of King GeorgeThe Madness of King George is a 1994 film directed by Nicholas Hytner and adapted by Alan Bennett from his own play, The Madness of George III. It tells the true story of George III's deteriorating mental health, and his equally declining relationship with his son, the Prince of Wales, particularly...
(1994), the film received four
Academy AwardAn Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
nominations : for Bennett's writing and the performances of
Nigel HawthorneSir Nigel Barnard Hawthorne, CBE was an English actor, perhaps best remembered for his role as Sir Humphrey Appleby, the Permanent Secretary in the 1980s sitcom Yes Minister and the Cabinet Secretary in its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister. For this role he won four BAFTA Awards during the 1980s in the...
and
Helen MirrenDame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...
. It won the award for best art direction. Bennett's critically acclaimed
The History BoysThe History Boys is a play by British playwright Alan Bennett. The play premiered at the Lyttelton Theatre in London on 18 May 2004. Its Broadway debut was on 23 April 2006 at the Broadhurst Theatre where there were 185 performances staged before it closed on 1 October 2006.The play won multiple...
won three Laurence Olivier Awards in 2005, for Best New Play, Best Actor (
Richard GriffithsRichard Griffiths, OBE is an English actor of stage, film and television. He has received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Featured Actor and a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor...
), and Best Direction (
Nicholas HytnerSir Nicholas Robert Hytner is an English film and theatre producer and director. He has been the artistic director of London's National Theatre since 2003.-Biography:...
), having previously won Critics' Circle Theatre Awards and
Evening Standard AwardsThe Evening Standard Theatre Awards, established in 1955, are presented annually for outstanding achievements in London Theatre. Sponsored by the Evening Standard newspaper, they are announced in late November or early December...
for Best Actor and Best Play. Bennett himself received the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre. The History Boys also won six Tony Awards on Broadway, including best play, best performance by a leading actor in a play (
Richard GriffithsRichard Griffiths, OBE is an English actor of stage, film and television. He has received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Featured Actor and a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor...
), best performance by a featured actress in a play (
Frances de la TourFrances de la Tour is an English actress perhaps best known for her role as Miss Ruth Jones in the British sitcom Rising Damp, and as Madame Olympe Maxime in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1.-Early life and family:De la...
), and best direction of a play (
Nicholas HytnerSir Nicholas Robert Hytner is an English film and theatre producer and director. He has been the artistic director of London's National Theatre since 2003.-Biography:...
). A film version of The History Boys was released in the UK in October 2006.
Bennett wrote the play
EnjoyEnjoy is a comedy play written in 1980 by Alan Bennett. An idiosyncratic view of working-class family life in Leeds, a city in the north of England, it was one of the rare theatrical flops in Bennett's career....
in 1980. It was one of the rare flops in his career and barely scraped a run of seven weeks at the
Vaudeville TheatreThe Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on The Strand in the City of Westminster. As the name suggests, the theatre held mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. It opened in 1870 and was rebuilt twice, although each new building retained elements of the previous...
, in spite of the stellar cast of
Joan PlowrightJoan Ann Plowright, Baroness Olivier, DBE , better known as Dame Joan Plowright, is an English actress, whose career has spanned over sixty years. Throughout her career she has won two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award and has been nominated for an Academy Award, an Emmy, and two BAFTA Awards...
,
Colin BlakelyColin George Blakely was a Northern Irish character actor. He was considered an actor of great range.-Early life:...
,
Susan LittlerSusan Littler was an English actress who appeared in many television and stage productions in the 1970s and early 1980s, before her career was cut short by her premature death...
, Philip Sayer,
Liz SmithLiz Smith, MBE is a British actress, best-known for her roles in the sitcoms The Vicar of Dibley and The Royle Family. She also appeared in the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.-Early life:...
(who replaced
Joan HicksonJoan Hickson OBE was an English actress of theatre, film and television, famed for playing Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the television series Miss Marple.- Wivenhoe :...
during rehearsals) and in his first West End role
Marc SindenMarc Sinden is an English theatre producer, documentary director and actor. His father is the actor Sir Donald Sinden.-Theatre:...
. It was directed by
Ronald EyreRonald Eyre was an English theatre director, actor and writer.Eyre was born at Mapplewell, near Barnsley, Yorkshire and he taught at Giggleswick School. He became a leading director for the cinema, opera, television and the theatre...
. A new production of
EnjoyEnjoy is a comedy play written in 1980 by Alan Bennett. An idiosyncratic view of working-class family life in Leeds, a city in the north of England, it was one of the rare theatrical flops in Bennett's career....
attracted very favourable notices during its 2008 UK tour and moved to the West End of London in January 2009. The West End show took over £1m in advance ticket sales and even extended the run to cope with demand. The production starred
Alison SteadmanAlison Steadman OBE is an English actress. She established her career with roles such as Beverley in Abigail's Party and Candice Marie in Nuts in May for the director Mike Leigh, to whom she was once married. In addition to her stage and radio work, she has had lead roles in The Singing Detective,...
,
David TroughtonDavid Troughton is an English actor, best known for his Shakespearean roles on the British stage.- Biography :David Troughton was born in Hampstead, North London. He comes from a theatrical family: he is the son of Doctor Who actor Patrick Troughton, elder brother of Michael Troughton, and father...
, Richard Glaves,
Carol MacreadyCarol MacReady is a British actress, who is perhaps best known for the role of Mrs. Dribelle in Bodger and Badger.Other television shows she appeared in include:*Agatha Christie's Poirot*The Darling Buds of May*The Alleyn Mysteries*The Woman in White...
and Josie Walker.
At the
National TheatreThe Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
in late 2009 Nicholas Hytner directed Bennett's newest play,
The Habit of ArtThe Habit of Art is a 2009 play by English playwright Alan Bennett, centred on a fictional meeting between WH Auden and Benjamin Britten while Britten is composing the opera Death in Venice...
, about the relationship between the poet
W. H. AudenWystan Hugh Auden , who published as W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet,The first definition of "Anglo-American" in the OED is: "Of, belonging to, or involving both England and America." See also the definition "English in origin or birth, American by settlement or citizenship" in See also...
and the composer
Benjamin BrittenEdward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
.
Personal life
In September 2005, Bennett revealed that, in 1997, he had undergone treatment for cancer, and described the illness as a "bore". His chances of survival were given as being "much less" than 50%. He began Untold Stories (published 2005) thinking it would be published posthumously. In the event his cancer went into remission. In the autobiographical sketches which form a large part of the book Bennett writes openly for the first time about his homosexuality (Bennett has had relationships with women as well, although this is only touched upon in Untold Stories). Previously Bennett had referred to questions about his sexuality as like asking a man who has just crawled across the Sahara desert to choose between
PerrierPerrier is a brand of bottled mineral water made from a spring in Vergèze in the Gard département of France. The spring is naturally carbonated...
or
MalvernMalvern is a town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, governed by Malvern Town Council. As of the 2001 census it has a population of 28,749, and includes the historical settlement and commercial centre of Great Malvern on the steep eastern flank of the Malvern Hills, and the former...
mineral water.
Bennett lives in
Camden Town-Economy:In recent years, entertainment-related businesses and a Holiday Inn have moved into the area. A number of retail and food chain outlets have replaced independent shops driven out by high rents and redevelopment. Restaurants have thrived, with the variety of culinary traditions found in...
in London, and shares his home with Rupert Thomas, the editor of
World of InteriorsThe World of Interiors magazine is published by Condé Nast.The glossy magazine, which features articles and photographs about interior design was founded in London, England as Interiors in 1981 by Kevin Kelly with Min Hogg as editor....
magazine. Bennett also had a long-term relationship with his former housekeeper, Anne Davies, until her death in 2009.
In 2010, Bennett described how he was mugged by two women who surreptitiously squirted him with ice cream in Marks & Spencer, Camden Town. As they purported to wipe off the confection with tissues, the robbers stole £1,500 cash he had withdrawn from the bank minutes earlier. Bennett, who initially was grateful the women had helped clean him said the experience afterwards made him 'less likely to believe in the kindness of strangers.'
Gift
In October 2008 Bennett announced that he was donating his entire archive of working papers, unpublished manuscripts, diaries and books to the
Bodleian LibraryThe Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...
, stating that it was a gesture of thanks repaying a debt he felt he owed to the British
welfare stateA welfare state is a "concept of government in which the state plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens. It is based on the principles of equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility for those...
that had given him educational opportunities which his humble family background would otherwise never have afforded.
Depictions
Along with the other members of
Beyond the FringeBeyond the Fringe was a British comedy stage revue written and performed by Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, and Jonathan Miller. It played in London's West End and then on New York's Broadway in the early 1960s, and is widely regarded as seminal to the rise of satire in 1960s Britain.-The...
, Bennett is portrayed in the play
Pete and Dud: Come AgainPete and Dud: Come Again is a stage play about Peter Cook and Dudley Moore written by Chris Bartlett and Nick Awde. This comedy drama had a sellout run at the Assembly Rooms as part of the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe before transferring to London's West End at The Venue, in March 2006, in a...
, by Chris Bartlett and
Nick AwdeNick Awde Hill , is a British writer, artist, singer-songwriter and critic. The author, editor or illustrator of more than 50 books, he is based in London and Brussels...
.
Awards and honours
Bennett was made an Honorary Fellow of
Exeter College, OxfordExeter College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth oldest college of the University. The main entrance is on the east side of Turl Street...
in 1987. He was also awarded a D.Litt by the
University of LeedsThe University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
in 1990 and an honorary doctorate from
Kingston UniversityKingston University is a public research university located in Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, United Kingdom. It was originally founded in 1899 as Kingston Technical Institute, a polytechnic, and became a university in 1992....
in 1996. In 1998 he refused an honorary doctorate from Oxford University, in protest at its acceptance of funding for a chair from press baron
Rupert MurdochKeith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
. He also declined a
CBEThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
in 1988 and a knighthood in 1996. He has stated that, although he is not a republican, he would never wish to be knighted, saying it would be a bit like having to wear a suit for the rest of his life. Bennett earned Honorary Membership of
The CoterieThe Coterie was a fashionable and famous set of English aristocrats and intellectuals of the 1910s, widely quoted and profiled in magazines and newspapers of the period. It adopted the hostile description as a "corrupt coterie"....
in the 2007 membership list.
Television
- My Father Knew Lloyd George (also writer), 1965
- Famous Gossips, 1965
- Plato—The Drinking Party, 1965
- Alice in Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland is a BBC television play based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. It was directed by Jonathan Miller, then most widely known for his appearance in the long-running satirical revue Beyond the Fringe....
, 1966
- On the Margin series (actor & writer), 1966–67
- A Day Out (also writer), 1972
- Sunset Across the Bay (also writer), 1975
- A Little Outing (also writer), 1975
- A Visit from Miss Prothero (writer), 1978
- Me—I'm Afraid of Virginia Woolf
Me - I'm Afraid of Virginia Woolf is a 1978 television play by Alan Bennett. It tells the story of Trevor, a teacher of English Literature to adults in the evenings...
(writer), 1978
- Doris and Doreen (Green Forms) (writer), 1978
- The Old Crowd (writer) with Lindsay Anderson
Lindsay Gordon Anderson was an Indian-born, British feature film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading light of the Free Cinema movement and the British New Wave...
(director), LWT 1979
- Afternoon Off
Afternoon Off is a 1979 television play by Alan Bennett. Broadcast under the umbrella title Six Plays by Alan Bennett it was produced for London Weekend Television and directed by Stephen Frears...
(actor & writer), 1979
- One Fine Day (writer), 1979
- All Day On the Sands (writer), 1979
- Objects of Affection (also writer), 1982
- The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merry Wives of Windsor is a comedy by William Shakespeare, first published in 1602, though believed to have been written prior to 1597. It features the fat knight Sir John Falstaff, and is Shakespeare's only play to deal exclusively with contemporary Elizabethan era English middle class life...
(actor), 1982
- Intensive Care (writer, actor), 1982
- An Englishman Abroad
An Englishman Abroad is a 1983 BBC television drama, based on the true story of a chance meeting of an actress, Coral Browne, with Guy Burgess , a member of the Cambridge spy ring who worked for the Soviet Union whilst with MI6...
(writer), 1983
- The Insurance Man (writer), 1986
- Breaking Up, 1986
- Man and Music (narrator), 1986
- Talking Heads
Talking Heads is a series of dramatic monologues written for BBC television by British playwright Alan Bennett. The two series were first broadcast in 1988 and 1998, and have since been broadcast on BBC Radio and included on the A-level and GCSE English Literature syllabus.A West End theatre...
(also writer), 1987
- The Wind in the Willows
The Wind in the Willows is a classic of children's literature by Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. Alternately slow moving and fast paced, it focuses on four anthropomorphised animal characters in a pastoral version of England...
, The Willows in Winter (Mole), 1995–1996
- The Story Store (Voices and Narrator), 1995
- Meg and Mog
Meg and Mog are the heroes of a series of children’s books written by Helen Nicoll and illustrated by Jan Pienkowski. First published in the 1970s, the books are about Meg, a witch whose spells always seem to go wrong, her striped cat Mog, and their friend Owl....
(Owl)
- Down Cemetery Road: The Landscape of Philip Larkin (presenter), 1987
- Fortunes of War
Fortunes of War is a 1987 BBC television adaptation of Olivia Manning's cycle of novels Fortunes of War. It stars Kenneth Branagh as Guy Pringle, lecturer in English Literature in Bucharest during the early part of the Second World War, and Emma Thompson as his wife Harriet...
series (actor), 1987
- Dinner at Noon (narrator), 1988
- Poetry in Motion (presenter), 1990
- 102 Boulevard Haussmann (writer), 1990
- A Question of Attribution
A Question of Attribution is a 1988 one-act stage play, written by Alan Bennett. It was premièred at the National Theatre, London in December 1988, along with An Englishman Abroad. The two plays are collectively called Single Spies....
(writer), 1991; Winner, BAFTA Television Awards, 1992
- Selling Hitler, 1991
- Poetry in Motion 2 (presenter), 1992
- A Night In (presenter), 1992
- The Long Summer (narrator), 1993
- Portrait or Bust (presenter), 1994
- The Abbey
The Abbey — or The Abbey with Alan Bennett — is a three-part BBC TV documentary written and hosted by playwright Alan Bennett and directed by Jonathan Stedall. It is a personal tribute to, and tour of, Westminster Abbey....
(presenter), 1995
- A Dance to the Music of Time
A Dance to the Music of Time is a twelve-volume cycle of novels by Anthony Powell, inspired by the painting of the same name by Nicolas Poussin. One of the longest works of fiction in literature, it was published between 1951 and 1975 to critical acclaim...
(actor), 1997
- Talking Heads 2
Talking Heads is a series of dramatic monologues written for BBC television by British playwright Alan Bennett. The two series were first broadcast in 1988 and 1998, and have since been broadcast on BBC Radio and included on the A-level and GCSE English Literature syllabus.A West End theatre...
, 1998
- Telling Tales (writer, as himself), 2000
- The South Bank Show (documentary), 2005
- Being Alan Bennett (BBC documentary), 2009
- Mark Lawson Talks To Alan Bennett (BBC, extended interview), 2009
- Bennett On Bennett (5 10-minute monologues, as himself), 2009
Stage
- Better Late, 1959
- Beyond the Fringe
Beyond the Fringe was a British comedy stage revue written and performed by Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, and Jonathan Miller. It played in London's West End and then on New York's Broadway in the early 1960s, and is widely regarded as seminal to the rise of satire in 1960s Britain.-The...
(also co-writer), 1960; Winner of a Special Tony AwardThe Special Tony Award category includes the Lifetime Achievement Award and Special Tony Award. These are non-competitive awards, and the titles have changed over the years...
, 1963
- The Blood of the Bambergs, 1962
- A Cuckoo in the Nest, 1964
- Forty Years On
Forty Years On is a 1968 play by Alan Bennett. It was his first West End play.-Subject:The play is set in a British public school called Albion House , which is putting on an end of term play in front of the parents, i.e. the audience...
(also writer), 1968
- Sing a Rude Song (co-writer), 1969
- Getting On (writer), 1971
- Habeas Corpus
Habeas Corpus is a comedy stage play by the English author Alan Bennett. It was first performed at the Lyric Theatre in London on 10 May 1973, with Alec Guinness and Margaret Courtenay in the lead roles....
(also writer), 1973
- The Old Country (writer), 1977
- Enjoy (writer), 1980
- Kafka's Dick
Kafka's Dick is a 1986 play by Alan Bennett. It is play about the nature of fame and how reputations are made.-Plot:Set in the present-day in a suburban Yorkshire dwelling, Kafka aficionado Sydney, and his wife Linda, are visited by Franz Kafka and his friend Max Brod who are both long dead...
(writer), 1986
- A Visit from Miss Prothero (writer), 1987
- Single Spies (An Englishman Abroad and A Question of Attribution) (also writer and director), 1988; Winner of the Olivier Award for Best New Comedy
The Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy is an annual award presented by The Society of London Theatre in recognition of achievements in commercial British theatre...
1989
- The Wind in the Willows (adaptation), 1990
- The Madness of George III
The Madness of George III is a 1991 play by Alan Bennett. It is a fictionalised biographical study of the latter half of the reign of George III of Great Britain, his battle with mental illness and the inability of his court to handle his condition...
(writer), 1991
- Talking Heads (Waiting for the telegram, A Chip in the Sugar, Bed Among the Lentils, A Lady of Letters, Her Big Chance, Soldiering On, A Cream Cracker Under the Settee) (also writer), 1992
- The History Boys
The History Boys is a play by British playwright Alan Bennett. The play premiered at the Lyttelton Theatre in London on 18 May 2004. Its Broadway debut was on 23 April 2006 at the Broadhurst Theatre where there were 185 performances staged before it closed on 1 October 2006.The play won multiple...
(writer), 2004; Winner of the Best New Play 2005, the Society of London Theatre Special AwardThe Society of London Theatre Special Award is an annual award presented by the Society at the annual Laurence Olivier Award ceremonies in recognition of achievements in commercial British theatre.-Award winners:* 1979: Laurence Olivier...
2005, and the Tony Award for Best PlayThe Tony Award for Best Play is an annual award celebrating achievements in live American theatre, including musical theatre, honoring productions on Broadway in New York. It currently takes place in mid-June each year.There was no award in the Tony's first year...
, 2006
- The Habit of Art
The Habit of Art is a 2009 play by English playwright Alan Bennett, centred on a fictional meeting between WH Auden and Benjamin Britten while Britten is composing the opera Death in Venice...
(writer), 2009
Film
- Long Shot, 1980
- Dreamchild
Dreamchild is a 1985 British drama film produced by Verity Lambert, directed by Gavin Millar and written by Dennis Potter. It stars Coral Browne, Ian Holm, Peter Gallagher, Nicola Cowper and Amelia Shankley and is a fictionalized account of Alice Liddell, the child who inspired Lewis Carroll's...
(voice only), 1985
- The Secret Policeman's Ball
The Secret Policeman's Balls is the collective name informally used to describe the long-running series of benefit shows staged in England to raise funds for the human rights organisation Amnesty International...
, 1986
- The Secret Policeman's Other Ball
The Secret Policeman's Other Ball was the fourth of the benefit shows staged by the British Section of Amnesty International to raise funds for its research and campaign work in the human rights field...
, 1982
- A Private Function
A Private Function is a 1984 British comedy film starring Michael Palin and Maggie Smith. The film was predominantly filmed in Ilkley and Ben Rhydding, West Yorkshire. The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival....
(screenplay), 1986
- Pleasure At Her Majesty's
Pleasure At Her Majesty's was the name given to the filmed release of A Poke In The Eye , the first of the Amnesty International comedy benefit galas. The title is a play on the phrase at Her Majesty's pleasure...
, 1987
- Prick Up Your Ears
Prick Up Your Ears is a 1987 film, directed by Stephen Frears, about the playwright Joe Orton and his lover Kenneth Halliwell. The screenplay was written by Alan Bennett, based on the book by John Lahr...
(screenplay), 1987
- Little Dorrit
Little Dorrit is a 1988 film adaptation of the novel Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens. It was written and directed by Christine Edzard, and produced by John Brabourne and Richard B. Goodwin. The music, by Giuseppe Verdi, was arranged by Michael Sanvoisin.The film stars Derek Jacobi as Arthur...
, 1987
- Wind in the Willows animated adaptation, 1994
- Parson's Pleasure (writer), 1995
- The Madness of King George
The Madness of King George is a 1994 film directed by Nicholas Hytner and adapted by Alan Bennett from his own play, The Madness of George III. It tells the true story of George III's deteriorating mental health, and his equally declining relationship with his son, the Prince of Wales, particularly...
(screenplay from his play "The Madness of George III" and cameo appearance), 1995
- The History Boys
The History Boys is a 2006 British comedy-drama film adapted by Alan Bennett from his play of the same name, which won the 2005 Olivier Award for Best New Play and the 2006 Tony Award for Best Play...
(screenplay, from his play of the same name), 2006
Radio
- The Great Jowett, 1980
- Dragon, 1982
- Uncle Clarence (writer, narrator), 1985
- Better Halves (narrator), 1988
- The Lady in the Van (writer, narrator), 1990
- Winnie-the-Pooh
Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear, is a fictional anthropomorphic bear created by A. A. Milne. The first collection of stories about the character was the book Winnie-the-Pooh , and this was followed by The House at Pooh Corner...
(narrator), 1990
- Alice in Wonderland and Through The Looking-Glass (narrator, BBC Audiobooks)
Books
- Beyond the Fringe (with Peter Cook
Peter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's...
, Jonathan MillerSir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE is a British theatre and opera director, author, physician, television presenter, humorist and sculptor. Trained as a physician in the late 1950s, he first came to prominence in the 1960s with his role in the comedy revue Beyond the Fringe with fellow writers and...
, and Dudley MooreDudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...
). London: Souvenir Press, 1962, and New York: Random House, 1963
- Forty Years On, London: Faber, 1969
- Getting On, London: Faber, 1972
- Habeas Corpus, London: Faber, 1973
- The Old Country, London: Faber, 1978
- Enjoy, London: Faber, 1980
- Office Suite, London: Faber, 1981
- Objects of Affection, London: BBC Publications, 1982
- A Private Function, London: Faber, 1984
- Forty Years On; Getting On; Habeas Corpus, London: Faber, 1985
- The Writer in Disguise, London: Faber, 1985
- Prick Up Your Ears: The Film Screenplay, London: Faber, 1987
- Two Kafka Plays, London: Faber, 1987
- Talking Heads, London: BBC Publications, 1988; New York: Summit, 1990
- Single Spies, London: Faber, 1989 (Olivier Award winner: England's best comedy for 1989)
- Single Spies and Talking Heads, New York: Summit, 1990
- The Lady in the Van, 1989
- Poetry in Motion, (with others). 1990
- The Wind in the Willows, London: Faber, 1991
- Forty Years On and Other Plays, London: Faber, 1991
- The Madness of George III, London: Faber, 1992
- Poetry in Motion 2 (with others) 1992
- Writing Home (memoir & essays) London: Faber, 1994 (winner of the 1995 British Book of the Year award)
- The Madness of King George (screenplay), 1995
- Father ! Father ! Burning Bright (prose version of 1982 TV script, Intensive Care), 1999
- The Laying on of Hands (stories), 2000
- The Clothes They Stood Up In (novella), 2001
- Untold Stories (autobiographical and essays), London, 2005, ISBN 0-571-22830-5
- The Uncommon Reader
The Uncommon Reader is a novella by Alan Bennett. After appearing first in the London Review of Books, Vol. 29, No. 5 , it was published later the same year in book form by Faber & Faber....
(novella), London, 2007
- A Life Like Other People's (memoir), London, 2009
- Smut: two unseemly stories (stories), London, 2011
Audio releases
- Alan Bennett At The BBC (compilation)
- Diaries 1980–1990
- Diaries 1997–2004
- Telling Tales
- Hymn
- The Lady In The Van
- Alan And Thora
- Untold Stories
- Written On The Body
- A Common Assault
- Beyond The Fringe
- Alan Bennett's On The Margin
- Forty Years On (1973 version)
- Forty Years On (2003 version)
- Kafka's Dick
- An Englishman Abroad (1983 version)
- An Englishman Abroad (2006 version)
- A Question Of Attribution
- The Madness Of King George III
- The History Boys
- The Lady In The Van (play)
- A Woman Of No Importance
- The Clothes They Stood Up In
- The Laying On Of Hands
- Father! Father! Burning Bright
- Say Something Happened
- A Visit From Miss Protheroe
- Two In Torquay
- The Uncommon Reader
- Dear Philip, Dear Kingsley (with Robert Hardy)
- Poetry In Motion
- Winnie The Pooh (narrator)
- The House At Pooh Corner (narrator)
- A Party For Pooh (narrator)
- The Wind In The Willows (narrator)
- Peter Pan And Wendy (narrator)
- The Story Of Doctor Dolittle (narrator)
- The Voyages Of Doctor Dolittle (narrator)
- Doctor Dolittle's Garden (narrator)
- The Owl & The Pussycat (narrator)
- The Little Prince (narrator)
- Animal Farm (narrator)
Further reading
- Peter Wolfe, Understanding Alan Bennett, University of South Carolina
The University of South Carolina is a public, co-educational research university located in Columbia, South Carolina, United States, with 7 surrounding satellite campuses. Its historic campus covers over in downtown Columbia not far from the South Carolina State House...
Press, ISBN 1-57003-280-7
- Joseph H. O'Mealy, Alan Bennett: A Critical Introduction, Routledge, 2007
- Kara McKechnie, Alan Bennett, The Television Series, Manchester University Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-7190-6806-5
- Robert Hewison Footlights – A Hundred Years of Cambridge Comedy, Methuen, 1983
- Roger Wilmut From Fringe to Flying Circus – Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy 1960–1980, Eyre Methuen, 1980
External links