An Englishman Abroad and other pieces - the Alan Bennett 80th birthday season

[ardcarp]

No need for apology, Ferrets! I was staying up late to see in Body Clock Awareness Day.

[Nick Armstrong]

An Alan Bennett this evening I'd never even heard of: "102 Boulevard Haussmann"

In 1916, while the war rages on the battlefields of France, Proust lives a nocturnal, closeted life in his Paris apartment, obsessively working on his writing. After venturing outside to visit a concert, he becomes fascinated by a string quartet's viola player, who is a wounded serviceman home from the front.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0440rbq

I tried... and didn't stay the course... Didn't appeal to me despite the musical content

[ardcarp]

I hadn't seen (or even heard of) this one before. If the SQ was miming, it was extremely well done! Proust is one of those authors 'everyone would like to have read' so I for one was intrigued by this insight into an aspect of his life and character. One can see why the subject appealed to Alan Bennett, but it struck me as unusual in his canon of work, i.e. no closely observed material from his own life, no socio-political axe to grind and little humour. A powerful piece though with an all-pervading weirdness.

[Krystal]

What did you think of Hytner's film of Bennett's "The History Boys"? I loved it, but it shocked a couple of my female friends. Richard Griffiths was masterful in the film, especially in the scene about "Drummer Hodge". Unforgettable.