Alan Bennett RSS feed

Alan Bennett is back in the habit with brilliant but flawed play

2009-11-18T10:09:58Z

Alan Bennett's The Habit of Art is funny and sometimes brilliantly so, but strangely uninvolving.

Give teachers authority or betray our children

2009-10-29T08:30:57Z

I was talking to a group of 12-year-olds about their life at school. One of them gazed at me with a puzzled demeanour and asked: "Why do teachers call thick children gifted?" The entire group looked at me knowingly

High camp, high art from Alan Bennett

2009-10-13T08:50:24Z

In re-imagining the relationship between WH Auden and Benjamin Britten for his new play, Alan Bennett returns to a theme close to his heart.

Opening in London this week

2009-10-12T10:28:44Z

The Hoerengracht exhibition opens at the National Gallery with The Habit of Art at the National Theatre.

Super Cooper: Dominic Cooper's Hollywood education

2009-10-08T09:55:49Z

Dominic Cooper on his teenage cross-dressing, the dangers of dancing at the Oscars and that scandalous rehearsal-room romp.

Punk Rock: If Lord of the Flies met Skins

2009-09-08T23:00:00Z

Punk Rock is an exploration of the volatility of adolescent life, its noxious snobberies and exhausting arguments

Brentford are on the up but face losing their loan stars

2009-04-27T08:49:28Z

Football: Brentford skipper Alan Bennett led his team to the League Two championship title at Darlington - and then admitted his own future is in doubt

Only way is up for McGleish as Orient ease survival fears

2009-03-09T09:37:23Z

Football: Scott McGleish is convinced Leyton Orient have turned the corner in their survival battle after their 2-1 win over Brighton

Enough Twittering � I need to Spotify

2009-02-17T09:04:48Z

No sooner have we trundled onto the internet superhighway than we realise that there is always something revving up in the fast lane waiting to overtake us

Enjoy old-fashioned vulgarity

2009-02-03T00:00:00Z

Alan Bennett's extraordinary, expressionistic comedy, Enjoy, proves such an unusual pleasure, says Nicholas de Jongh.

After the snow, the blame game

2009-02-03T10:13:20Z

With more people making it into work this morning, there is growing anger over the virtual collapse of London's transport system yesterday and its sluggish recovery

Playwright donates his life's work to Oxford's Bodleian

2008-10-24T08:26:05Z

The author and playwright Alan Bennett has donated his life's work to one of Britain's leading libraries

Downturn: the long haul ahead

2008-10-24T07:52:55Z

Today's official figures on UK growth are expected to confirm what most people now assume: that our economy is shrinking

Playwright makes plea on cycle paths

2008-10-24T08:27:40Z

Alan Bennett is backing a campaign to extend cycle paths through all London's Royal Parks after his friend was fined for cycling illegally

Steadman breathes life into Alan Bennett flop

2008-09-22T09:18:54Z

An Alan Bennett play that was a flop when premiered in London 28 years ago is coming back as a hit with Alison Steadman

Stars in their eyes: Host of celebrities auction specs for sight-saving charity

2008-08-14T16:39:56Z

They have perched on the noses of politicians and poets. They have graced the famous faces of pop singers and Hollywood superstars.

Memories of home in 66a Church Road

2008-08-10T23:00:00Z

Daniel Kitson has plumped for the homespun theatrical storytelling style of Alan Bennett. The result is the treat of the Fringe.

Underground meeting with a real-life Delphic sibyl

2008-04-11T08:33:47Z

The sibyls of Greek antiquity, who reach far back beyond the Trojan War, Homer and Herodotus, were women inspired by the gods to prophesy

The Boys' triumphal return

2008-01-08T00:00:00Z

Four seasons after its National Theatre premiere, The History Boys makes a stronger, more emotional impact in Paul Miller's capable production than ever.

Wit and wisecracks by the sea

2007-07-15T23:00:00Z

With stars like Bill Bailey, Phill Jupitus, Michael McIntyre, Robin Ince and Alan Carr performing, there was laughter all round at Suffolk's Latitude Festival.

Tom's magnificent seven Tonys

2007-06-11T08:13:47Z

Tom Stoppard's play has won seven Tony Awards on Broadway for his nine-hour epic The Coast Of Utopia.

Suite nothings

2007-04-18T23:00:00Z

Patricia Routledge stars in Office Suite, a double bill of what must be Alan Bennett's only example of third-rate comedy.

DVDs of the week

2007-03-06T14:57:47Z

Borat, The History Boys, cult classic Performance and a mutant monster movie set in Korea are among this week's DVD releases.

Boys are back with a class act

2007-01-04T00:00:00Z

Alan Bennett's The History Boys returns to London making a far stronger emotional impact than in 2004, leaving Nicholas de Jongh moved, disturbed and exhilarated.

A lesson in humanity

2007-01-03T00:00:00Z

Alan Bennett's The History Boys has made theatrical history and happily there's another chance to see the play as a new cast settles into school life.

'This role has been quite an education'

2006-10-13T09:44:36Z

Dominic Cooper must have known he was on to a good thing when he landed the role of Dakin in The History Boys but he can't have predicted just quite what a stroke of luck the casting would prove to be.

Boys run riot in the cinema

2006-10-11T23:00:00Z

There are plenty of laughs in Nicholas Hytner's and Alan Bennett's film of their stage hit about a group of sixth-formers. But it still worked better as a play.

Not enough time for talking heads

2006-10-03T23:00:00Z

The monologues in Gerturde's Secret speak of rich private lives - so it's a shame they each have less than 10 minutes to develop, says Fiona Mountford.

The Boys are back in town

2006-09-28T11:46:16Z

The History Boys is a stage hit that took director Nicholas Hytner by surprise. Now he's turned it into a rollicking film, with the aim, he says, of getting closer to the characters.

Have you got the winning script?

2006-09-22T16:53:05Z

Budding comedians are being given the chance to have their sketch performed alongside the likes of Eddie Izzard and Chevy Chase at the return of the Secret Policeman's Ball.