Understanding Alan Bennett

A study of the actor, director, playwright and lyricist, Alan Bennett. Peter Wolfe demonstrates that Alan Bennett’s success in many spheres was no fluke, and his theatrical eminence has always been accompanied by awards and professional recognition. His play
Single Spies
won the Oliver Award as England’s Best Comedy in 1989. The casts of his plays, starting with
Forty Years On
in 1968, have included such luminaries as Sir John Gielgud, Sir Alec Guinness, Joan Plowright, Maggie Smith, Alan Bates and Daniel Day Lewis. His screenwriting earned
The Madness of King George
a nomination for an Academy Award. This book seeks to illuminate the writer whose instinct for artistic choices has helped him to succeed on his own terms.