Four Stories by Alan Bennett
Like everything Bennett does, these stories are playful, witty and painfully observant of ordinary people's foibles. They all have brilliant twists, are immensely entertaining and highly moral. And all are modern classics. The Laying on of Hands The painfully observant account of a memorial service for a masseur to the famous. The Clothes They Stood Up In The comic tale of an elderly couple's trials after their flat is stripped completely bare. Father! Father! Burning Bright The savage satire on the family of a dying man who rules over them from his hospital bed. The Lady in the Van The true story of the eccentric old woman who is invited to live in a homeowner's front garden. She stays there, in her van, for fifteen years. The home is Alan Bennett's. It became a West End hit, starring Maggie Smith.
Bennett's exquisite observations of the snobbish and the camp, the old, the sad and the lonely are recounted with great tenderness and poignancy* Daily Express *
Bennett approaches his characters with an agitated compassion, a baleful sympathy that adds to their troubles. Some 10 years ago, a newspaper referred to Bennett as "the nation's teddy bear". Note the gleam, always fresh, in his beady eye. * Spectator *
Bennett approaches his characters with an agitated compassion, a baleful sympathy that adds to their troubles. Some 10 years ago, a newspaper referred to Bennett as "the nation's teddy bear". Note the gleam, always fresh, in his beady eye. * Spectator *
The film adaptation of the hit play The Lady in the Van is out now in the UK.Alan Bennett has been one of our leading dramatists since the success of Beyond the Fringe in the 1960s. His television series Talking Heads has become a modern-day classic, as have many of his works for the stage. At the National Theatre, London, The History Boys won numerous awards including Evening Standard and Critics' Circle awards for Best Play, an Olivier for the Best New Play and the South Bank Award. His play The History Boys was the National Theatre's most successful production ever. His collection of prose Writing Home was a number one bestseller. Untold Stories won the PEN/Ackerley Prize for autobiography, 2006. Recent works of fiction are The Uncommon Reader and Smut: Two Unseemly Stories.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781781253793 |
| ISBN 10 | 178125379X |
| Title | Four Stories |
| Author | Alan Bennett |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Profile Books Ltd |
| Year published | 2014-04-17 |
| Number of pages | 288 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |