Aug 28, 2023
An Englishman Abroad (BBC, 1983)
"The average Englishman, you see, is not interested in ideas. Say what you like about political theory. No one will listen. You could shove a whole slice of the Communist manifesto into the Queen's Speech. Nobody would turn a hair. Least of all, I suspect, HMQ."
#an englishman abroad#1983#alan bennett#john schlesinger#single play#bbc#alan bates#coral browne#charles gray#harold innocent#vernon dobtcheff#alexei jawdokimov#matthew sim#denys hawthorne#trevor baxter#mark wing davey#molly veness#judy gridley#peter chelsom#douglas reith#based on the true story of Browne's incidental meeting with (and subsequent correspondence with) Guy Burgess during the RSC#(then the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre) tour of Hamlet to Moscow in 1958. Browne had told Bennett the tale and then gently nudged him into#writing the play‚ although it was he who suggested she play herself (reasoning that her age had no real impact on the work; and actually#despite being around 70 she convinces as her 40 something self). Schlesinger apparently muscled in and wanted to expand the story to make a#feature length cinema film but Bennett correctly stood his ground; as he said‚ this is an anecdote‚ and probably wouldn't stand dragging#out longer than an hour. as it is‚ it's a sharply delivered character study that muses on ideas of class and identity and the nature of#what is proper (in the english sense). most of his former contacts regard Burgess with an almost passive indifference‚ his status as a#traitor an incidental aside that's no more damning than his homosexuality or his alcholism was. Bennett was uneasy about casting Bates#despite their being friends‚ because he was the wrong class; this time Schlesinger was right in calling him out on that nonsense#Bates is superb as the semi tragic‚ semi noble (and frequently very funny) exile; Browne his match for spiky dialogue and raised eyebrows
