Even if American television is going through a sort of renaissance at the moment, it still doesn’t operate with the sort of free form experimentation that’s allowed in other countries where programming is at least state-sponsored, which at least partially frees creative forces from having to make as many decisions based on the demands of reusable sets, actor contracts, and advertiser demands. This is especially true in Britain, where the active theater scene has taken at least partial root at the BBC, allowing playwrights to experiment with storylines that aren’t necessarily intended to go on to longer series. One of the more prolific and distinguished of these playwrights was Alan Bennett, the most notable of whose work is collected here in this set. Though the set is certain to intrigue those unfamiliar with the format, it is perhaps as unlikely to win over new fans to whom the concept is completely alien; it is amusing and charming, but almost completely inaccessible to anyone who doesn’t know what to expect from BBC productions of the era.
The featured piece is An Englishman Abroad, featuring actress Coral Browne as herself and Alan Bates as Guy Burgess, an accused traitor living in Moscow. After stumbling his way into her dressing room and promptly throwing up, he manages to charm his way further into her life, compelling her to go to a tailor and get a new set of clothes made for him, much to the chagrin of their countrymen who consider the act treasonous and unpatriotic. Other notable inclusions in the set are: The Insurance Man, which features a much younger Daniel Day-Lewis as Franz Kafka; 102 Boulevard Haussman, with another appearance by Alan Bates (this time as Marcel Proust) and Janet McTeer; and Sunset Across The Bay, directed by Stephen Frears (High Fidelity, The Queen). Rounding out the rest of the set are A Question of Attribution, A Day Out, Our Winnie, A Visit from Miss Prothero (also directed by Stephen Frears), and A Woman of No Importance.
If there is a single word that could encapsulate the feeling of any and all of these plays it is dry. Like many plays (and in direct contrast to television and film) the focus here is on the actor and the writer, rather than the director. While this can be a refreshing alternative to the hyperactive aesthetic of most network television (CSI comes up as a good example), it’d be hard to argue that it makes the best possible use of television as a visual medium. Even with consideration of budget taken into account (as it's impossible to produce especially convincing sets for only one use for an hourlong program), the work here feels stagebound and isolated, as if none of the events took place in a fully formed, lively world. Instead, the energy and lifeblood are remanded to those names that the BBC crowd would recognize (which accounts for the frequent inclusion of Alan Bates).
Adapting theater to the screen is always risky, and the direction of any of these is largely reliant upon the cleverness of Bennett’s wordplay (which is very clever) and the verve of the actors on display (which is never less than adequate). The cumulative effect, however, is somewhat lacking. When evaluating any work in a visual medium, the first thing to be considered is what the talent behind the camera did to make the final product more compelling than simply listening to actors reading their lines on a stage. Despite the handsome scenery, one gets the sense that they didn’t really do enough, and that watching a play through your television is a kind of detached experience, and one that no level of skill is going to change that.
DVD Bonus Features
Each piece is introduced by Alan Bennett himself, as well as an interview and two film essays Dinner at Noon and Portrait or Bus
"The Alan Bennett Collection" is on sale March 29, 2011 and is not rated. Drama. Directed by Stephen Frears, John Schlesinger, Richard Eyre, Udayan Prasad, Malcolm Mowbray, Giles Foster. Written by Alan Bennett. Starring Daniel Day Lewis, Jim Broadbent, Malcolm McDowell, Alan Bates, Coral Browne, Charles Gray, James Fox, David Calder, Geoffrey Palmer, Janet Mcteer, John Normington, James Cossins, Philip Locke, Harry Markham, Gabrielle Daye, Bob Peck, Elizabeth Spriggs, Constance Chapman, Peter Lorenzelli, Patricia Routledge, Eileen Atkins.
