Performed by Jen Warwick. With musical interludes by Ruth Gasperini (Violin) and Monika Balogh (Piano).
Coming to Wootton Courtenay on the 17th of May.
Susan, a vicar’s wife, suffocated by expectations, seeks solace in alcohol and in the backroom of an Asian grocer’s shop where she embarks on an affair with Mr Ramesh.
Bennett’s sharp dialogue probes tellingly into the frailties and the occasional strengths of the human psyche.
Darkly comic, tragically poignant – a piece which draws you in and holds you tight within its grasp.
We first performed Alan Bennett’s, Bed Among the Lentils in 2017. It was a debut for our newly birthed company. All the profits were given to Cancer Research and we raised a grand sum of 3.5K. On board directing us was the late Hilary May, our extraordinary booster and cheerleader. We miss her.
So, we’re dusting off this script again because it is a delight to perform and because our audiences loved it first time round. Since then we have grown our audience and many of you will be new to our love of all things Alan Bennett. I have even been known to plead with his agent to allow me to perform some of the Talking Heads monologues not yet available for license. Well, you’ve got to ask haven’t you but I’m still waiting.
“Bennett’s genius is his ability to satirise humanely. His prose is like stained glass. If you stare at it, you see things you missed.”
The sharp, biting comedy, the wit and the pathos and the extremes of joy and tragedy create the most fertile stomping ground for any actor. I love this character. Susan is well and truly under my skin.
We have saluted the risk taken by vicars to allow us to perform in their churches. The subjects explored may well ruffle a few feathers. They are meant to. If we are honest we can all be so full of judgement, and without Love, fail to understand the depths of a human being’s suffering. There is definitely a silent scream hidden in the prose here. This wonderful piece prods, as all good theatre should, and the piano and violin weave in an evocative layer from the Baroque period.
Book here: https://www.takethreegirls.com/performances
Wootton Courtenay 