Stage Door News
Stage Door News
John Shooter will direct a collection of six of Alan Bennett’s TALKING HEADS monologues to be performed in rotating repertory at Campbell House on various dates (listed below) in November (3rd -22nd). There will be six one act plays in total which comprise:
PROGRAM A (dates below)
The Outside Dog (Marjory – played by Naomi Wright), Playing Sandwiches (Wilfred – played by Jason Gray), A Lady of Letters (Irene –played by Alex Dallas).
PROGRAM B (dates below)
The Hand of God (Celia – played by Deb Filler), Bed Among the Lentils (Susan – played by Fiona Reid), the third monologue and actor for program B, TBC
Sound design by Aaron Bernstein. Set and costume designs by Rachel Forbes, lighting design by Siobhan Sleath and Stage management by Laura Lakatosh. Talking Heads is presented as a co-production by Precisely Peter Productions and Campbell House.
SYNOPSES:
The Outside Dog
Marjory, an obsessively clean housewife, gradually comes to realise that her husband (who works at the local slaughter house) is actually a dangerous criminal.
It turns out that there’s a mass murderer on the loose and Marjory’s husband comes under investigation. He has an Alsatian dog which he takes out late at night for hours on end. Her husband is eventually arrested and charged with the murders. Marjory, meanwhile, struggles to keep a low profile, and to continue with her daily routine as normal.
When her husband is (through a lack of evidence) acquitted, Marjory has to deal with the horrific realization that she’ll be sharing her house with a serial killer.
Playing Sandwiches
Wilfred is (as we discover over time ) a “reformed” paedophile., living under a false identity and working as a highly respected maintenance man in a public park. However, as a superior begins to pressure him for bureaucratic historical information to include in his personal file, the pressure causes Wilfred to resume his old ways with horrifying results.
A Lady of Letters
Irene is a single, middle aged woman who spends her time writing letters of complaint to her local MP, the police, the chemist etc, to remedy the social ills she sees around her. Irene reports a neighbouring family for child neglect as she hasn’t seen the child with the parents for weeks. It turns out that the child has been hospitalised with leukaemia.
She is warned (by the police) not to write any more letters or else she could end up in prison.
Irene does in fact write more letters and subsequently finds herself in prison where, in fact, she flourishes.
The Hand of God
Celia, is a lonely widow and owner of a rather unsuccessful antiques business. She makes a point of befriending old and sick people in the hopes of acquiring their antiques after they have died. One day, she is given a box of bric-a brac, only to find that there is something of value inside.
Bed Among the Lentils
Susan, a vicar’s wife, reflects on her lonely, passionless marriage and during her monologue, questions whether she actually believes in god at all. After finding comfort in the communion wine, Susan also finds comfort in the arms of a local shop keeper.
DIRECTOR
John Shooter arrived in Toronto from London (UK) in 2013. After training and working as a classical actor, he decided to turn his attention to directing. Previous theatre credits include Abigail’s Party at the Theatre Passe Muraille, A Slice of Saturday Night at the Peacock Theatre London, Off Out at the Hackney Empire London and Brimstone and Treacle at SideMart Theatrical Grocery.
THE PLAYS
There are twelve monologues in total in the Talking Heads series. All of which were written during the late 1980’s – 1990’s. The monologues were originally written for the BBC and have been performed by Maggie Smith, Julie Walters and Patricia Routledge.
THE AUTHOR
Alan Bennett is a multi-award winning British playwright whose work includes, The History Boys, Kafka’s Dick and The Madness of King George. His latest film, The Lady in the Van starring Maggie Smith and directed by Nicolas Hytner, will be given a special screening at this year’s TIFF.
LISTING INFORMATION
Address Campbell House, 160 Queen Street West, Toronto M5H 3H3
Tickets phone: 416 – 597- 0227
Brownpapertickets.ca
Tickets $25 (general admission)
Tea and scones with jam and cream will be served in the historic dinning room of each performance.
Performances:
Program A
Outside Dog, Playing Sandwiches, Lady of Letters
November evenings 8pm
3rd, 5th, 10th, 12th, 18th, 20th, 21st
November matinees 3pm
6th, 7th, 14th
Program B
The Hand of God, Bed Among the Lentils, third monologue tbc
November evenings 8pm
4th, 6th, 7th, 11th, 13th, 14th, 17th, 19th
November matinees 3pm
21st, 22nd
2015-09-09
Toronto: Precisely Peter Productions presents Alan Bennett's "Talking Heads" November 3-22