Kaleidoscope’s new play, Talking Heads by Alan Bennett, Touches Upon Some Familiar Issues for Older People.
Kaleidoscope's new production of Talking Heads by Alan Bennett will be visiting theatre's across Northern Ireland this March
This beautifully written play explores a number issues which are sure to strike a familiar chord with older audiences. Most people will remember Talking Heads from the BBC television series which starred Julie Walters, Patricia Routledge, Maggie Smith and Thora Hird among others. The play brings together some of Bennett’s best loved monologues from the Talking Heads series to form a collection of seemingly everyday stories told by some very familiar characters which unravel to reveal a glimpse of the humour and tragedy which surrounds us all.
In A Chip In The Sugar we meet Graham a middle aged man who still lives with his mother. Graham is very upset when his mother, who's seventy two, begins a relationship with an old flame. Things get even worse when Graham's mother announces that she's getting married and the honeymoon is in Tenerife.
The subject of loneliness and isolation is dealt with beautifully in A Lady of Letters. Ms Ruddick is a lady who lives alone and whose only outlet is writing letters. Irene writes to everyone from a sausage manufacturer to the Queen. But Irene's letter writing lands her in serious trouble when she begins complaining about the couple across the street.
Finally in Waiting For the Telegram we meet Violet who's ninety two and who lives in an old folks home. Violet’s got a soft spot for one of the young male nurses who reminds her of a lad she fell in love with before the war. They tell her she'll be getting a telegram from the Queen one day soon but she’s had one already, years before.
Talking Heads will be coming to The Crescent Arts Centre in Belfast, The Marketplace Theatre in Armagh and The Sean Hollywood Arts Centre. Tickets are available from the venues.
