Ravens flies high in triple masterpiece
Talking Heads (Watford Palace) Verdict: A Bennett classic ★★★★✩ Shoe Lady (Royal Court) Verdict: Cobblers ★★✩✩✩
WHAT a treat to catch this fine revival of three Alan Bennett monologues first seen on TV in 1987 and ’88.
The first and last are performed by Dead Ringers impressionist Jan Ravens (below), and Julia Watson from Casualty stars in the second. Both had me transfixed with their tender handling of Bennett’s wry wit.
Ravens may have been tempted to play her busybody from Bradford in the manner of Patricia Routledge, and the posh lady from Suffolk with the voice of Theresa May. But she wisely eschews pastiche. A more sinister reality lurks behind the letter writer who spies on her neighbours, and there’s pathos in the tale of the wealthy lady fleeced by her son.
Watson reveals the yearnings of a vicar’s alcoholic wife who takes up with an Asian shopkeeper in Leeds from whom she buys her sherry. Peppered with digs at Church of England social climbers, it’s not just her introduction to the Kama Sutra that fascinates Bennett — his story is a cri de coeur at her loss of faith in God and her husband.
If the plays feel dated, it’s only because they’re now classics. They celebrate dying English manners and euphemisms that mask pain. Brigid Larmour’s production gets this beautifully, presenting the women in front of curtains that finally open to reveal the sea — like flashing a bit of leg.
■ SHOE Lady is a 65-minute play about a woman who’s lost a shoe. ‘Is it actually?’ sniggered my 15-year-old daughter. Yes it is, actually. Risibly trivial as that may be, it does also star the very watchable Katherine Parkinson from The IT Crowd. And, to be fair to author E. V. Crowe, there are strong precedents for this kind of tale. Cinderella is one.
Crowe’s play is a parable of social estrangement in which Parkinson appears to be cheerfully losing her marbles. The trouble is, it’s only half a night out. Parkinson is soon to be seen as Barbara Good in The Good Life in Bath. Exchanging a single shoe for a pair of wellies — it already sounds twice as good. I’d save my money for that.