The Old Country

by Alan Bennett

In what appears to be a very English scene, Hilary and Bron are sitting peacefully on a verandah, when Hilary’s sister and her husband show up. But this is more than just a family visit, and it is soon revealed that all is not as it appears.

Bennett deftly uses the backdrop of a Cold War spy story to explore questions of loyalty, betrayal and national identity in this suspenseful and entertaining play.

Genres: Plays, Espionage, Theatre

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Alan Bennett is an English author and Tony Award-winning playwright. Bennett's first stage play, Forty Years On, was produced in 1968. Many television, stage and radio plays followed, along with screenplays, short stories, novellas, a large body of non-fictional prose and broadcasting, and many appearances as an actor. Bennett's lugubrious yet expressive voice (which still bears a slight Leeds accent) and the sharp humour and evident humanity of his writing have made his readings of his own work (especially his autobiographical writing) very popular. His readings of the Winnie the Pooh stories are also widely enjoyed.

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Huh. I finally read something of Mr. Bennett’s I didn’t enjoy.

Granted, there is a lot of Mr. Bennett’s oeuvre I have yet to read, but I was surprised at how inert I found The Old Country. If I had read it without knowing the writer, I would have possibly said “Pinter channeling Le Carré on a bet.”

A twist on a spy novel, The Old Country never hits a groove. Bennett chooses to be coy about information for the first act. He played his cards too close to his chest for too long, so the play ends up as a lot of vague hints without depth.

In reading his work, I’ve been struck by Bennett’s ability to observe character and find the little details and moments that make people complex. I’ve mostly read his later works, so maybe that’s something that hadn’t yet entered into his writing in the late 1970s, but without it, his work is indistinguishable from many other mid-century playwrights. Not recommended.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unjustly neglected early Bennett - an elegiac riff on patriotism, treachery, culture and society.

[Dane Cobain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another cracking Alan Bennett play, this time following three different couples and the interactions between them. The actual plot of this one wasn’t particularly interesting, at least to me, but I did like the characterisation and there were some cracking lines of dialogue. You can’t go wrong with some Alan Bennett, and this play is another good one.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Long-winded and not particularly dramatic. Depends on an awareness of a world that is very far away from 2018.

[Mckinley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Language a bit convoluted at times, not my favorite topic of spies, cold war.