This is the fifth episode I've seen. These actresses breathe life into the clever scripts. Superb acting in every way. Only the Brits, only the Brits....
The son so aptly named Giles. The foreshadowing of signing the papers, put me on edge immediately. Bennett manages to be both subtle and alarming at once. Even the subtlety of no pearls at the end. Brilliant writing, acting and directing. Thank you, Ken.
And the changes in her hair. Talk about subtle! I'm middle-class Canadian, not upper-crust British British but my life has had the same trajectory. Mental illness in my family with roots in sexual abuse. Once very comfortable, living in a historic home with inherited antiques, dogs that won at Crufts, QE2 cruises, & some fairly nice pearls (single, not triple strand). Now my only income is the old-age pension. I get 3 free meals a week from a restaurant (a step up from Meals on Wheels, thank God). My dear husband isn't dead yet but dying from Parkinson's & dementia in a nursing home. Haven't seen him in months because I'm too weak to leave our tiny apartment & anyway, we're in lock-down. I cry every day. Pass the time watching UA-cam & rereading Barbara Pym's novels (I wanted to be Canada's Barbara Pym but the closest I came was being published by Mills & Boon once). I'm not bitter, just sad. And rambling. Sorry.
@@claudia1423 I'm so sorry to learn of all your challenges. Bravo on getting published even once! Truly a great achievement. (I'm still waiting for my big break!) Best wishes to you. 🙏
@claudia1423 Are things looking up for you at all? I am so sorry, I understand more than you know. Please let me know how you are. I am so sorry for your troubles.
Perfect description. My sister is much the same, but very proud, though we have invited her to share our home, we can't, ourselves, help as much as we would like financially. Life winds down. One is fortunate if one can have a bit of security as it does so. Personally, I want her son, the SOB, in prison. Makes him sad to see her like this does it? Highly doubtful. She is, in his mind, a millstone 'round his neck. Probably angry because his wife tells him they have to go see her. He cares for no one but himself.
Wonderful writing. Everything is subtle, hidden behind the words. Alan Bennett has such mastery of observation and people's natural tendency to make the best of it, or put their head in the sand. And he has the very best of British actors lining up to work with him. A real treat - thank you
+Sue Worthington yes, one of the best things about these monologues is that you can rewatch them and spot all the weird little phrases that hint at something in the shade. "Ralph touched life at many points"
I just discovered these Monologues while meandering through the works of Stephanie Cole. Alan Bennett is a wonderful writer and the choice of this words makes the prose flow so effortlessly. Stephanie utters those exact words with beautiful emotions. Thank you Alan, Thank you Stephanie.
Read the scripts for these as part of English/drama studies at university. The way the whole situation just gradually unfolds throughout each monologue, the secrets half-revealed, the self-delusions of the characters slowly becoming evident... Such masterful storytelling. I keep coming back to them every now and then and get more out of them every time :)
Bless your professor. It isn’t easy to make these stick to the syllabus now. I remember when they first aired - no fanfare, just: there something obviously important was on the television. Stood there riveted to the floor, not knowing what I’d walked into. Never heard of Bennett before then.
Yes but I think she also accepted here faith, and in the end, despite all that happened to here had a good life, different than how she used to live, but still a good life.
Wonderful writing of such a dark subject; Such a silly woman dragged into poverty by her darling son 😢Whilst solidly ignoring her suffering daughter, poor girl 🥺
Or in this case, rich girl... it's somehow more twisted that the daughter's funds couldn't be swindled by the son... though it's hard to know if it was the son's intent to defraud them for what was done to the sister, even if he couldn't face her directly...
I first became acquainted with Stephanie Cole when I saw a televised production of "Memento Mori" and have enjoyed her performances ever since. Thank you for posting this.
She reminds me of so many middle class women of my mother's generation, trusting in the social contract that the wife would run the home and the husband would provide. Let this be a lesson to all us women -- always equip yourself to support yourself and two children. Manage your own finances. Never give family power of attorney unless and until you are mentally incompetent. We all must accept personal responsibility for ourselves. If she was married today and had her own career she would be able to divorce her husband if she suspected child abuse.
I've always loved the political points in this. How nobody "found out" about Margaret's abuse while she was at the expensive private hospital. How can a psychiatric hospital treat its patient, when it is paid a lot of money by the very man who is the reason for this patient's mental illness? When the point of health service is to make money, it cannot do what it is supposed to do - put the patient's health and well-being in the centre. Instead it might have to put the patient's good second in order to avoid upsetting a lucrative client, like in this play. Also how Muriel can't seem to put a finger on the town's community at the end. It is of course because she's no longer rich. The kind of local community she's been a member of all her life requires its members to be rich.
How did nobody at the hospital find out about the sexual abuse? Two words: Jimmy Saville. That is to say, people can make themselves willingly ignorant for the sake of convenience.
Her psychiatrist did ask her about Ralph's relationship with his daughter. Her reply was 'she was his little girl' Implied she maybe suspected but didn't know how deal with it. These stories are based on another era, where sex wasn't discussed , kids weren't told facts of Life
@@YOYOKE64 That's the point. The doctors at the expensive private hospital never "found out" about Ralph's abuse because he paid the bills, and why would they look too closely into him? But the "14 year old" psychiatrist in the more humble state hospital figured it out, after Ralph died and Margaret was placed in the public institution.
This is just Champagne Socialist Alan Bennett providing fellow left wingers with wish fulfilment. The evil patriach dies, all his secret sins are discovered and hey presto the institutionalised daughter who cant function is suddenly breezing around full of savvy and social confidence. Bennett is a good writer but hes spent so long living the high life in London that his 'kitchen sink' scripts are cartoonish and unrealistic. And the woman's character being so 2 dimensionally offhand and derisive about her own disabled daughter? In what world..? Again just wish fulfilment for Bennett as he likes to pretend that the conventional or conservative are delusional or deeply flawed. I find him to be a deeply dishonest writer: irony of ironies..
It's rather ambiguous, and deliberately so. Either the son was being dishonest and robbing his mother of everything she had, or he was grossly incompetent and lost it all. I personally tend to believe the former, but they're both plausible.
My take is that the son was involved in some sort of financial swindle, and then, no doubt, an attempt to cover up the financial swindle by coughing up some ready money. Thus, he got his mother to sign over the house to him, which was lost when the bubble burst on the swindle (whatever it was), and he apparently ruined some large number of other people in a similar way. I think the son was merely an incompetent crook, and not deliberately trying to impoverish his mother--but who can say?
Probably composed for this performance. Even it does like a classicalchamber piece. My Shazam App, on my phone, didn't bring up a Composer or composition.
It seems like she's one step behind on what's been happening around her. Perhaps out of naivety or perhaps simply unaware of the problems that occurred over time.
Very insightful question. How many thousands of poor 'willingly ignorant' mothers have had to knowingly ignore such beastiality. They mistakenly married the spawn of Edom.
This is the fifth episode I've seen. These actresses breathe life into the clever scripts. Superb acting in every way. Only the Brits, only the Brits....
The son so aptly named Giles. The foreshadowing of signing the papers, put me on edge immediately. Bennett manages to be both subtle and alarming at once. Even the subtlety of no pearls at the end. Brilliant writing, acting and directing. Thank you, Ken.
And the changes in her hair. Talk about subtle! I'm middle-class Canadian, not upper-crust British British but my life has had the same trajectory. Mental illness in my family with roots in sexual abuse. Once very comfortable, living in a historic home with inherited antiques, dogs that won at Crufts, QE2 cruises, & some fairly nice pearls (single, not triple strand). Now my only income is the old-age pension. I get 3 free meals a week from a restaurant (a step up from Meals on Wheels, thank God). My dear husband isn't dead yet but dying from Parkinson's & dementia in a nursing home. Haven't seen him in months because I'm too weak to leave our tiny apartment & anyway, we're in lock-down. I cry every day. Pass the time watching UA-cam & rereading Barbara Pym's novels (I wanted to be Canada's Barbara Pym but the closest I came was being published by Mills & Boon once). I'm not bitter, just sad. And rambling. Sorry.
@@claudia1423 I'm so sorry to learn of all your challenges. Bravo on getting published even once! Truly a great achievement. (I'm still waiting for my big break!) Best wishes to you. 🙏
@claudia1423
Are things looking up for you at all? I am so sorry, I understand more than you know.
Please let me know how you are. I am so sorry for your troubles.
Makes one wonder how many Muriels walk past us everyday, with a kindly smile and an air of quiet dignity. It's the ending that does it.
Perfect description. My sister is much the same, but very proud, though we have invited her to share our home, we can't, ourselves, help as much as we would like financially.
Life winds down. One is fortunate if one can have a bit of security as it does so.
Personally, I want her son, the SOB, in prison. Makes him sad to see her like this does it? Highly doubtful. She is, in his mind,
a millstone 'round his neck. Probably angry because his wife tells him they have to go see her. He cares for no one but himself.
I believe I never knew of the amazing Stephanie Cole before seeing Waiting for God reruns on American TV. Another great British actress without equal.
Check her out in TENKO
Just overdosed on Alan Bennett acted by Patricia Routledge, Thora Hird and Stephanie Cole. Doesn't get much better.
Life, in all its mundaneness and reality. Beautifully captured by the brilliant Alan Bennett and told so well by Stephanie Cole. Treat.
Her smile sends chills up my spine.
Wonderful writing. Everything is subtle, hidden behind the words. Alan Bennett has such mastery of observation and people's natural tendency to make the best of it, or put their head in the sand. And he has the very best of British actors lining up to work with him. A real treat - thank you
+Sue Worthington Well put.
+Sue Worthington yes, one of the best things about these monologues is that you can rewatch them and spot all the weird little phrases that hint at something in the shade. "Ralph touched life at many points"
these monologues were amazing, goes to show you don't need much to make amazing TV
+Jakeb Arturio Braden What BBC is best known for when it works.
@1978ajax Stop projecting, sir. Do you like Buttermilk pancakes?
I just discovered these Monologues while meandering through the works of Stephanie Cole. Alan Bennett is a wonderful writer and the choice of this words makes the prose flow so effortlessly. Stephanie utters those exact words with beautiful emotions.
Thank you Alan, Thank you Stephanie.
She's so good, isn't she?
Wow! There just aren't any writers like this one these days.
Her delivery is on par with the best of the best great job
As soon as she said papers I saw red. My heart is broken.
Read the scripts for these as part of English/drama studies at university. The way the whole situation just gradually unfolds throughout each monologue, the secrets half-revealed, the self-delusions of the characters slowly becoming evident... Such masterful storytelling. I keep coming back to them every now and then and get more out of them every time :)
Bless your professor. It isn’t easy to make these stick to the syllabus now. I remember when they first aired - no fanfare, just: there something obviously important was on the television. Stood there riveted to the floor, not knowing what I’d walked into. Never heard of Bennett before then.
i love these monologues by Alan Bennett. Stephanie Cole did a wonderful job bringing Muriel to life; Well done!
When she said, “this isn’t a tragic story.” My heart broke. Just pointed out the obvious......Very poignant.
Yes but I think she also accepted here faith, and in the end, despite all that happened to here had a good life, different than how she used to live, but still a good life.
So enjoyable and true to life.
Wonderful writing of such a dark subject; Such a silly woman dragged into poverty by her darling son 😢Whilst solidly ignoring her suffering daughter, poor girl 🥺
Or in this case, rich girl... it's somehow more twisted that the daughter's funds couldn't be swindled by the son... though it's hard to know if it was the son's intent to defraud them for what was done to the sister, even if he couldn't face her directly...
@@wildbrad I don’t think he gave two tosses about his sister, he had her incarcerated in a sub standard mental health facility 🤷🏼♀️
@@pickybitch2707 they might not have been luxurious but they apparently did her more good than the private one.
She's done up lovely here. I grew up watching her in Waiting for God where she played a nursing home lady.
Stephanie Cole is absolutely brilliant!
Very intelligent. Thank you so much Ken.
I first became acquainted with Stephanie Cole when I saw a televised production of "Memento Mori" and have enjoyed her performances ever since. Thank you for posting this.
willworkforwages Dame Letty Colston :)
She reminds me of so many middle class women of my mother's generation, trusting in the social contract that the wife would run the home and the husband would provide. Let this be a lesson to all us women -- always equip yourself to support yourself and two children. Manage your own finances. Never give family power of attorney unless and until you are mentally incompetent. We all must accept personal responsibility for ourselves. If she was married today and had her own career she would be able to divorce her husband if she suspected child abuse.
WEll SAID
Which she didn't.
Brilliantly written & acted!!
His way of telling a story is great.
Beautiful portrayal of an awful person. She knew all the time, but chose to deny it so she could maintain her perfect existence.
She is marvelous!!
Heartbreaking
thank you very much, i was waiting for these to resurface!
I cried.
I've always loved the political points in this. How nobody "found out" about Margaret's abuse while she was at the expensive private hospital. How can a psychiatric hospital treat its patient, when it is paid a lot of money by the very man who is the reason for this patient's mental illness? When the point of health service is to make money, it cannot do what it is supposed to do - put the patient's health and well-being in the centre. Instead it might have to put the patient's good second in order to avoid upsetting a lucrative client, like in this play.
Also how Muriel can't seem to put a finger on the town's community at the end. It is of course because she's no longer rich. The kind of local community she's been a member of all her life requires its members to be rich.
Certainly interesting.
How did nobody at the hospital find out about the sexual abuse? Two words: Jimmy Saville. That is to say, people can make themselves willingly ignorant for the sake of convenience.
Her psychiatrist did ask her about Ralph's relationship with his daughter. Her reply was 'she was his little girl' Implied she maybe suspected but didn't know how deal with it. These stories are based on another era, where sex wasn't discussed , kids weren't told facts of Life
@@YOYOKE64 That's the point. The doctors at the expensive private hospital never "found out" about Ralph's abuse because he paid the bills, and why would they look too closely into him? But the "14 year old" psychiatrist in the more humble state hospital figured it out, after Ralph died and Margaret was placed in the public institution.
This is just Champagne Socialist Alan Bennett providing fellow left wingers with wish fulfilment. The evil patriach dies, all his secret sins are discovered and hey presto the institutionalised daughter who cant function is suddenly breezing around full of savvy and social confidence. Bennett is a good writer but hes spent so long living the high life in London that his 'kitchen sink' scripts are cartoonish and unrealistic. And the woman's character being so 2 dimensionally offhand and derisive about her own disabled daughter? In what world..? Again just wish fulfilment for Bennett as he likes to pretend that the conventional or conservative are delusional or deeply flawed. I find him to be a deeply dishonest writer: irony of ironies..
Don't like the stories.. but love the actors/actresses doing the parts!
100%
She paid too much attention in the men in her life; and not enough to the women.
Wow, indescribably sad.
X did her son cause all these problems for her? where did all the money go?
+Frances Gillotti It did seem like the son screwed up whatever the deal was (probably used "liquidity problem" as a ploy).
It's rather ambiguous, and deliberately so. Either the son was being dishonest and robbing his mother of everything she had, or he was grossly incompetent and lost it all. I personally tend to believe the former, but they're both plausible.
My take is that the son was involved in some sort of financial swindle, and then, no doubt, an attempt to cover up the financial swindle by coughing up some ready money. Thus, he got his mother to sign over the house to him, which was lost when the bubble burst on the swindle (whatever it was), and he apparently ruined some large number of other people in a similar way. I think the son was merely an incompetent crook, and not deliberately trying to impoverish his mother--but who can say?
Into his pocket to squander
It's like she's singing...
Does anyone know the name of the piece at about 6:40?
Probably composed for this performance. Even it does like a classicalchamber piece. My Shazam App, on my phone, didn't bring up a Composer or composition.
"dotty about mags" is she deliberately clueless?
It seems like she's one step behind on what's been happening around her. Perhaps out of naivety or perhaps simply unaware of the problems that occurred over time.
Very insightful question. How many thousands of poor 'willingly ignorant' mothers have had to knowingly ignore such beastiality. They mistakenly married the spawn of Edom.