People

The new Alan Bennett play, which has sold out at the National, as Bennett plays tend to do. Starring, as is common with Bennett plays, Frances De La Tour. Of course it is an entertaining enough evening, with some good lines and nice comic touches. It is set in a decrepit stately home with Frances De La Tour as the grand old lady struggling to make ends meet in her cold house surrounded by antiques. Does she sell up to a group of rich men represented by a disreputable entrepreneur or to the National Trust? (Made me think of Belsay Hall actually - see previous blog entry.)

The problem with this, and other Bennett plays, is you get the feeling that he is trying to give some sort of profound message about life through some of the long passages, but when you come out you realise there is nothing profound there at all, just a lot of sneering.I just don't think he is a very practical man, and rather sneers at anyone doing anything practical. Here, the National Trust, amongst others. I think he would have approved of Belsay.