born in Leeds and spent part of his childhood in Guildford. At Oxford University he studied history and performed with the Oxford Revue. His collaboration with Dudley Moore, Jonathan Miller and Peter Cook in the satirical revue Beyond the Fringe at the 1960 Edinburgh Festival brought him instant fame and he turned to writing full-time. Bennett's first stage play, Forty Years On, was staged in 1968 and there followed a huge and varied output of writing in many forms, as well as broadcasting and acting. His plays include Habeas Corpus, The Old Country, The Madness of George III, The Lady in the Van (performed by Guildburys in 2017) and The History Boys. Many of Bennett's characters are unfortunate and downtrodden, often meeting with disappointment in the realm of sex and intimate relationships, largely through tentativeness and a failure to connect with others. Bennett never writes on commission, saying "I don't work on commission, I just do it on spec. If people don't want it 2nd April 2005 (Visit to Knole Park Kent) Having wandered round the house as ever both put off by the crowds and puzzled by what they get out of it (and indeed what I get out of it), sitting in the café it occurs to me it’s one of those insoluble problems that I tend to write plays about. So maybe this is another. And looking down at my napkin in the tearoom I see a possible title of ‘The National Trust’. Actually, a rather good title and regardless of what it’s about. We shall see. (This eventually becomes ‘People’). This is the second Alan Bennett play I have directed, the last one having been The Lady in the Van. Yes, as you can guess, I am a bit of a Bennett fan. However, that was not the reason I chose to direct this play; the reason is the fact that the rich subject matter of the play fascinates me. The whole concept of the play deals with the faking of history, celebrity, sex and religion. The way we think something is true so often turns out to be a pretend, glamorised version of what was based on reality. Shakespeare’s history plays are a prime example.
Gilly Fick June Stacpoole Cheryl Malam Iris Caroline Whillans Bevan Ian McShee Ralph Lumsden Mike Pennick The Bishop Jay Orbaum Cast and Crew for Reach for the Thigh Theodore (director) Graham Russell-Price Nigel (assistant director) Olly Clifford Bruce (grip) Oli Bruce Les (camera) Joe Hall Louise (wardrobe/hair/make-up) Colin (actor) Jemma Jessup Craig Robertson Brit (actress) Sarah Gibbons Clapperboard Girl Tina Wareham Director Eddie Woolrich Designer Ian Nichols Costumes Tina Wareham, Jemma Jessup Lighting Design Jay Orbaum Lighting Operation Kevin Malam The action of the play takes place at Stacpoole Hall. Time—2012. There will be one interval of twenty minutes.
constructed at a time when the owners of these magnificent symbols of the power and wealth of the British upper classes were able to support the expense of maintaining a huge home and invariably extensive estate, together with the necessity of employing an army of servants of all kinds, without too much call for a minute inspection of the family coffers. The Stately Homes of England, How beautiful they stand, To prove the upper classes Have still the upper hand; Though the fact that they have to be rebuilt And frequently mortgaged to the hilt Is inclined to take the gilt But with the dawn of the twentieth century, and especially in the years following the Great War, significant changes in the economic, social and political landscape made it more and more difficult to carry on in the old way. Many increasingly challenged owners of great houses handed the management of their properties to the National Trust, enabling them to be preserved for posterity. Today, the Trust manages nearly forty. But what of all the others? Many have been demolished. So how do those that remain make ends meet? Dorothy Stacpoole’s solution of hiring out her old pile as a film set is by no means unique, although there is no record of stately homes in the real world being used for a film of the type being shot at Fingask Stacpoole Hall! However, the owners of houses still in private possession show a range of ingenious and imaginative means of keeping the dough rolling in. Like the NT, they all charge people to have a look round but that’s not the only strategy. Fingask Castle in Perthshire, dating from 1594, pays its way through weddings, ceilidhs, holiday lets, an annual musical revue and a subscription mural. A range of topiary is also a major visitor attraction. Highclere Highclere Castle in Hampshire, completed in 1849, is probably best known as the main location for the filming of Downton Abbey but it was also used for the television series Jeeves and Wooster, amongst many others. In addition to income from films, there is an Egyptian exhibition and a programme of events such as the Battle Proms and guided tours. Longleat Maze Longleat House in Wiltshire was completed in 1579. Best known for creating the first drive-through safari park outside Africa, it also
(NODA), founded in 1899, is the leading representative body for amateur theatre in the UK. The Association has a membership of approximately 2000 amateur theatre groups and approximately 800 individual members, staging musicals, operas, plays, concerts and pantomimes in a wide variety of venues ranging from the country’s leading professional theatres to village halls. Covering a broad spectrum of age ranges, NODA member societies meet the needs of all levels of both 29th June 2006 R’s office outing yesterday when we go on a minibus to Scotney and Sissinghurst. The house survives the droves of visitors but the gardens don’t. As R bluntly puts it “People spoil things”- a line in a play you would give to a child or licensed eccentric. But it starts me thinking of the play “National Trust” I thought of when we went to Knole. From Alan Bennett’s diary www.guildburys.com
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