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Me, I'm Afraid of Virginia Woolf
Published to coincide with a retrospective of Alan Bennett's television work at the National Film Theatre, this collection is full of the observations of life as it is lived, and "A Day Out"; "Sunset Across the Bay"; " A Visit from Miss Prothero"; "Me, I'm Afraid of Virginia Woolf"; "Green Forms"; "The Old Crowd"; and "Afternoon Off". The volume also contains a full introduction from the author and anecdotes and recollections of fliming at the time and looking back now.
Paperback
First published December 2, 1978
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About the author
Alan Bennett
277 books1,122 followersLibrarian 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 5, 2019
Is this the story of Alan Bennett coming out? Or is it an entirely fictional story that Bennett called upon his own experiences to form? Trevor Hopkins is a painfully shy man who feels out of place everywhere and with everybody, but especially with his mother and his girlfriend, the only two people he has any kind of personal relationship with. He rejects his mother, telling her he hates his name, 'Trevor' and is constantly negative and rejecting of his girlfriend's attempts to get closer. He just wants her to shut up, turn the light off, and have brief sex where for half an hour he says he feels just like everyone else.
"What Hopkins wanted was someone who didn't want him. He had such a low opinion of himself that if someone wanted him that meant they weren't worth having."
He is a night school teacher who specialises in Virginia Woolf. Only when he is teaching does he become confident and engages with his students, especially a young man, Skinner, who is already very dissatisfied with his home life of wife and child and comes to the classes more to escape the boredom of that than for any reason of wanting to gain knowledge. He is loud and self-confident and engages Hopkins in conversation. Hopkins wants to get to know this man who isn't like him at all, perhaps has the personality traits that Hopkins so desires, but is unsure of how to proceed.
Hopkins, or perhaps Bennett, is constantly watching, observing other people in a way that disturbs them, in a hospital waiting room, in a public toilet and on a bus. He stands outside of society, as it were, and watches how the 'normal' people act.
This obvious observing, staring at people, gets him into trouble when his nose is broken with a casual punch by a man who did not like how closely he was watching his girlfiend and himself passionately snogging. At the hospital, Skinner asks Hopkins if he'd like a coffee and it is hinted that for both of them this is the start of a much closer relationship. Hopkins feels that something has changed, and he has turned a corner and life is more hopeful from now on.
I had the audio book of this and the closing music confirmed this, it is from South Pacific, the musical.
'I'm not ashamed to reveal
The world famous feelin' I feel.I'm as corny as Kansas in August,
I'm as normal as blueberry pie.
No more a smart little girl with no heart,
I have found me a wonderful guy!"
"What Hopkins wanted was someone who didn't want him. He had such a low opinion of himself that if someone wanted him that meant they weren't worth having."
He is a night school teacher who specialises in Virginia Woolf. Only when he is teaching does he become confident and engages with his students, especially a young man, Skinner, who is already very dissatisfied with his home life of wife and child and comes to the classes more to escape the boredom of that than for any reason of wanting to gain knowledge. He is loud and self-confident and engages Hopkins in conversation. Hopkins wants to get to know this man who isn't like him at all, perhaps has the personality traits that Hopkins so desires, but is unsure of how to proceed.
Hopkins, or perhaps Bennett, is constantly watching, observing other people in a way that disturbs them, in a hospital waiting room, in a public toilet and on a bus. He stands outside of society, as it were, and watches how the 'normal' people act.
This obvious observing, staring at people, gets him into trouble when his nose is broken with a casual punch by a man who did not like how closely he was watching his girlfiend and himself passionately snogging. At the hospital, Skinner asks Hopkins if he'd like a coffee and it is hinted that for both of them this is the start of a much closer relationship. Hopkins feels that something has changed, and he has turned a corner and life is more hopeful from now on.
I had the audio book of this and the closing music confirmed this, it is from South Pacific, the musical.
'I'm not ashamed to reveal
The world famous feelin' I feel.I'm as corny as Kansas in August,
I'm as normal as blueberry pie.
No more a smart little girl with no heart,
I have found me a wonderful guy!"
December 1, 2017
I did not enjoy this collection of short plays as much as I hoped I would. After absolutely adoring The History Boys, my Bennett bar was rather high and sadly this failed to meet the mark. I think the main reason for this, is that all of the plays were performed for television or radio, and so the play texts, although amusing in places, lacked a certain flourish which is probably more noticeable in those intended for the bright lights of the theatre.
Having said that, there is something that I find comforting about Alan Bennett and in a peculiar way, I really resonate with him. I recognised nearly all of his literary allusions, and I was particularly happy to see some of my wackier reads like The Waves by Woolf and The Cocktail Party by TS Eliot drawn upon in the play The Wrong Crowd. It is perhaps me flattering myself on my tastes a bit too much, but the allusions were fun to spot and certainly enriched my views.
Bennett is very much about class and particularly the Northern working class. Most of his plays had a strong Northern tone to them which was something I struggled to connect with. He is fair in his caricatures across all the classes, but it all felt a bit dated. The exploration of masculinity, especially in the first play, A Day Out, was of greater interest to me simply because it is a concept that has arguably gained pertinence, rather than lost it.
The title play Me, I’m afraid of Virginia Woolf was a highlight. It was more of the Bennett I had seen in The History Boys, intellectual, touching and witty. The strong undercurrents of homosexuality also matches with THB, and the surpression and secrecy of it created interesting gulfs between characters which enhanced the comedy. The final play, An Afternoon Off, was the only one which failed to make me smile; at times it felt offensive. Comedy derived from making racist people seem stupid and trying to play with perspectives really irritates me. I’m not trying to appoint any moral high ground, but it just isn’t funny. It may have been less awkward if I had seen it performed, as living dynamics may have softened the blow of words, rather than having them stagnante on a page, but at the end of the day it’s cheap humour and I thought more of Bennett.
I have decided on 3 stars because it wasn’t awful and the majority of plays were amusing, but it was missing something for me. Having never worked long shifts in factories in industrial towns up North, I feel as though there are aspects to plays that I didn’t “get” and Bennett didn’t want me to “get”. That’s a bit of a stupid basis for deducting 2 stars, but the TV Bennett I have seen here, perhaps isn’t for everyone and I would say that The History Boys has a very different audience in mind. Bennett went to Oxford himself, so the juggling of the working class hero to the witty intellectual across his plays feels a bit picky and choosey. The way he writes implies that television is for the working class and theatre for the middle; I’m not sure I that agree with this and it means I fall in with the bourgeois eek.
Having said that, there is something that I find comforting about Alan Bennett and in a peculiar way, I really resonate with him. I recognised nearly all of his literary allusions, and I was particularly happy to see some of my wackier reads like The Waves by Woolf and The Cocktail Party by TS Eliot drawn upon in the play The Wrong Crowd. It is perhaps me flattering myself on my tastes a bit too much, but the allusions were fun to spot and certainly enriched my views.
Bennett is very much about class and particularly the Northern working class. Most of his plays had a strong Northern tone to them which was something I struggled to connect with. He is fair in his caricatures across all the classes, but it all felt a bit dated. The exploration of masculinity, especially in the first play, A Day Out, was of greater interest to me simply because it is a concept that has arguably gained pertinence, rather than lost it.
The title play Me, I’m afraid of Virginia Woolf was a highlight. It was more of the Bennett I had seen in The History Boys, intellectual, touching and witty. The strong undercurrents of homosexuality also matches with THB, and the surpression and secrecy of it created interesting gulfs between characters which enhanced the comedy. The final play, An Afternoon Off, was the only one which failed to make me smile; at times it felt offensive. Comedy derived from making racist people seem stupid and trying to play with perspectives really irritates me. I’m not trying to appoint any moral high ground, but it just isn’t funny. It may have been less awkward if I had seen it performed, as living dynamics may have softened the blow of words, rather than having them stagnante on a page, but at the end of the day it’s cheap humour and I thought more of Bennett.
I have decided on 3 stars because it wasn’t awful and the majority of plays were amusing, but it was missing something for me. Having never worked long shifts in factories in industrial towns up North, I feel as though there are aspects to plays that I didn’t “get” and Bennett didn’t want me to “get”. That’s a bit of a stupid basis for deducting 2 stars, but the TV Bennett I have seen here, perhaps isn’t for everyone and I would say that The History Boys has a very different audience in mind. Bennett went to Oxford himself, so the juggling of the working class hero to the witty intellectual across his plays feels a bit picky and choosey. The way he writes implies that television is for the working class and theatre for the middle; I’m not sure I that agree with this and it means I fall in with the bourgeois eek.
July 19, 2016
A collection of scripts from a series of 'plays for TV' from the 1970s. I think it's safe to say that Bennett got better with age with his writing, and there isn't much here to linger upon.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews