'Hansard' at the National Theatre

'Hansard' is a new play by Simon Woods playing in the Lyttelton at the National Theatre starring Alex Jennings and Lindsay Duncan. It seems to be part of the recent trend for short plays with no interval and this one is only 90 minutes long. It's a double-header between the two main characters but I'm not sure why it's called Hansard - Hansard is the official record of debates in the Houses of Parliament and, other than the male character being an MP I didn't really notice anything that might link the play to the official record.

The play is set in 1988 and the male lead is a junior minister inThatcher's Tory government who arrives at his Cotswolds home after a hard week of interviews and votes in the House. His bored wife still hasn't dressed yet or prepared for his little birthday party and the bickering starts. Snipes here and snipes there, snide language from both in what seems like a regular argument they have each weekend when he arrives home.  

This time the sniping takes a different turn when the wife seems to have discovered that her husband has been away overnight and his secretary thinks he's been away with her. But she spent the night alone in their London flat. O dear, he's not just another lying, cheating politician is he? As it turns out, he's not, and the thing they've managed to not talk about slowly comes out after years of silence. It's quite touching in that respect but I won't say what it is - see it for yourself.

It's an odd play and it wasn't too subtle in signposting the '80s with loads of references to the miners strike, AIDS, clause 28, Thatcher and everything except tucking your jumpa into your jeans and electronic music. What's wrong with electronic music? I did think it was nicely plotted - but possibly over-plotted? - and led to an interesting discussion afterwards.

It was all set in a very large kitchen - I bet that kitchen gets really cold in winter.

Three Alan Bennett Plays

I've been to see three plays by Alan Bennett in less than a week, firstly 'Untold Stories' at the Duchess Theatre and 'People' at the National Theatre. 'Untold Stories' is made up of two short plays, 'Hymn' and 'Cocktail Sticks', and started out at the National Theatre before transferring to the Duchess.

'Hymn' is a short, half hour, remembrance of music from when Alan was a boy and roughly half the time is given over to a string quartet. Far more interesting is 'Cocktail Sticks' at about 1:10 hours and an autobiographical piece about his memories of his parents and their relationship with him. Both are brought alive by Alex Jennings who plays Bennett and who looks and sounds like him - until he smiles during the bows at the end and his face becomes his own again.

I preferred 'Cocktail Sticks' which is a gentle joy. It takes its name from a small pack of cocktail sticks Bennett finds at the back of his mother's kitchen cupboard when he's clearing out after her death. She always wanted to host a cocktail party and never did - she was aspirational that way and she'd bought the sticks just in case. I liked the portrayal of Bennett's parents by Jeff Rawle and Gabrielle Lloyd, his butcher father who is happy with his lot and his aspiring mother who didn't really know what to aspire to. But proud parents, both. It was quite touching in many ways.

''People' is Bennett's new play at the National Theatre with the marvellous Frances de la Tour in the lead role as the former model now living in her decrepit ancestral home in the Yorkshire countryside near Sheffield. The place is falling down around her but she resists selling it to the National Trust  preferring to use it as the site for porn films, but eventually loses out to her younger sister, an arch-deacon in the Church of England.

I enjoyed the play but, in hindsight, it seems a bit formulaic: the National Trust wants the property so lets make it a porn set; let's make the CofE sister support the National Trust; let's have the older sister know the porn producer from years ago when they were lovers; let's make the former model in the 50s the tramp-dressed recluse of today; let's bring her out of her shell and dress the tramp in couture dresses; and so on and so forth. It was even a bit formulaic to have the older 'companion' turn out to be a half sister. Yes, of course. I can't quite decide what the play is meant to be about. Mind you, other friends report that they were in fits of laughter throughout so it depends on individuals, I suppose.

Frances de la Tour is, of course, excellent throughout and it's great to see her in full flow with caustic dialogue in her distinctive voice. The play is worth seeing for Frances alone.