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Talking Heads (play)

play written by Alan Bennett

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ7679817 ↗
Source-derived summary

Talking Heads is a stage adaptation of the BBC series of the same title created by Alan Bennett. It consists of six monologues presented in alternating programmes of three each.

Programme A

The Hand of God

Antiques dealer Celia cultivates friendships with her aging neighbours in the hope she will be able to get a good deal on their treasures when they die. She is particularly pleased to sell an odd sketch of a finger for £100, only to discover it was a lost Michelangelo masterpiece, a study of the central image of the hand of God on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel worth millions.

A Lady of Letters

In an effort to remedy the social ills surrounding her, Irene Ruddock compulsively writes letters of protests and complaints to everyone she can, including her MP, the police, and her local chemist.

Bed Among the Lentils

Susan, the alcoholic wife of a vainly insensitive vicar, distracts herself from her marriage by conducting an affair with grocer Ramesh Ramesh.

Programme B

Her Big Chance

After appearing in a series of small, unimportant roles, aspiring actress Lesley is thrilled to be cast by a West German filmmaker, until she discovers she will be appearing in soft pornography.

A Chip in the Sugar

Graham, a closeted middle-aged man with a history of mild mental health problems, finds his life upended when his ageing widowed mother, on whom he dotes, is reunited with an old flame who is his exact opposite. When he unearths a secret about the man's past, he triumphantly confronts his mother with the information and restores the status quo and his comfortable life but destroys her chance of happiness in the process.

Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet

A lonely, middle-aged department store clerk finds her life consumed with a burgeoning relationship with her new podiatrist, a decidedly kinky fellow whose all-consuming foot fetish prompts him to pay her to model a variety of shoes while also indulging in other activities.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Talking Heads (play)” as play written by Alan Bennett. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Talking, Heads and play.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current 330-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2004. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Talking, Heads and play providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Talking Heads (play)”, the useful work is to connect “play written by Alan Bennett” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7679817. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Talking Heads (play)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Talking Heads (play) primary sources, Talking Heads (play) archive and Talking research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Talking Heads (play)”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Talking Heads (play)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.