An Evening of Talking Heads – Hope Street Theatre

When Alan Bennett wrote the play Enjoy, in which an elderly couple find themselves being packed up to become a living museum exhibit, there’s a chance he might have been seeing the future for many of his other characters.

Tonight, we have three monologues from Bennett’s first series of Talking Heads, first broadcast in 1988. The series, which has become a staple of English literature syllabus’, provides a variety of perspectives on themes such as isolation, guilt, and loneliness.

Pieces like these will always present a bit of a challenge to some audiences – those who remember the time-period will find warmth in evocative references to times gone by, but younger audience members may find the idea of regularly writing letters, waiting for a call on a landline, or the 1980s buying power of 50p too quaint for words.

It also takes actors of strong calibre to hold an audience single-handedly for a sustained period of time, particularly when you’re stepping into the shoes of greats such as Patricia Routledge, Julie Walters and Bennett himself. But director Jordan Spratt has three excellent performers in Derek Cross, Linzy Boden and Kizzy Leigh.

Using the same set of a single chair, table and hatstand, and light-touch lighting and sound, each one takes us through their characters’ tales with confidence, fully engaging the audience with expert storytelling. Spratt has worked with his actors very well in teasing out the nuances in the texts, but the strength of the monologues of course lies in Bennett’s writing, superficially gentle and beautiful in their ordinariness, but peppered with stings that sober the audience up out of a nostalgic stupor. The casual racism of some of the characters referenced in each monologue are also jarring to the modern ear in the otherwise homely pieces.

Derek is first with A Chip in the Sugar, where we meet Graham, a timid, middle-aged man who feels threatened by his elderly mother’s new beau, Frank. Derek is thoroughly convincing as the bristling Graham, wrestling with his desire for preserving the status quo and seeing his mum happy.

Linzy is similarly absorbing with Lady of Letters, where Irene – lonely after the death of her mother – exists through an ever-mounting pile of complaints letters – to the council, her MP, even the Queen. Whilst there’s a sense of imperiousness missing, Linzy certainly has the audience in fits of giggles as she adjusts to the life-changing fallout of her latest letters.

Kizzy is the strongest of the three. In Her Big Chance, we meet Lesley a wannabe actress who treats every part (rare as they are) with the seriousness of being cast as Lady Macbeth, even if she’s just a walk-on extra. When Lesley is finally offered a film role, Kizzy’s performance is laden with the ditzy, ‘luvvy’ attitude of old-school actors that makes Lesley’s blithely ignorant navigation of what is clearly a soft-porn film an absolute hoot.

Overall, an excellent and enjoyable night of storytelling, with assured and expressive performances from all, and a reminder of the sometimes delightful, sometimes disturbing eccentricities brought to life in Bennett’s writing.

For What’s On at Hope Street Theatre, visit https://hopestreettheatre.com

Reviewer: Lou Steggals

Reviewed: 6th December 2024

North West End UK Rating: