Talking Heads on the Seaford stage

Bennett is one of this country’s best loved writers and, with work like Lady In The Van, The History Boys and The Madness of George III, has become a national treasure.

Talking Heads was written for television as a series of dramatic monologues in which carefully drawn and identifiable characters lay bare their lives straight to camera.

Director Victoria Thompson is now bringing four of those stories to the Seaford stage - A Chip In the Sugar, Soldiering On, Lady of Letters and A Bed Among the Lentils. With performances from Stephen Newberry, Sue Shephard, Tricia Pape, and Sylvia Aston, this show will also feature some innovations new to Seaford Little Theatre, in order to provide the intimacy of atmosphere that the production requires.

Victoria said: “Alan Bennett is one of the most observant playwrights when it comes to writing about vulnerability. His work is timeless because it deals with human frailty and is equally funny and sad in the telling.”

A Chip In the Sugar concerns Graham who is living comfortably at home with his mam when he finds himself potentially sidelined after his mother takes up with a new man. Soldiering On is about Muriel, a pillar of the community, who resolves to take control of her life after her husband dies, only to find that being too trusting is not always the best policy. In Lady of Letters, Irene is a woman who is not afraid to speak or rather write when she sees perceived injustice or social ills in the world, regardless of the possible consequences. And A Bed Among the Lentils tells the story of Susan, a vicar’s wife, who struggles to maintain the image required of her position and seeks solace from her local grocer, who is only too happy to provide it.

Evening performances start at 7.45pm and the matinées on Saturday February 13 and Sunday February 14 at 2.30pm. Tickets are on sale from Redgold Opticians, 32 Broad Street, Seaford, BN25 1ND, or purchase online from [email protected]. For general enquiries regarding this production ring Ray Cox 07984280067.