Alan Bennett Professions : Playwright Born : May 9, 1934 Browse All Authors Top 119 quotes by Alan Bennett Deluded liberal that I am, I persist in thinking that those with a streak of sexual unorthodoxy ought to be more tolerant of their fellows than those who lead an entirely godly, righteous and sober life. Illogically, I tend to assume that if you ( Philip Larkin) dream of caning schoolgirls bottoms, it disqualifies you from dismissing half the nation as work-shy. Alan Bennett godly dream thinking I had no idea of who could play it, no notion really. Then Richard came to see us but I don't think it was decided at that meeting. The trouble is, as soon as you've chosen somebody it obscures anybody else you might have thought of. It's like going to a place that you've never been to before - you've got a picture of it and then you go there and that picture is totally wiped out by the reality. Alan Bennett play reality thinking It [Cambridge] wasn't a holy grail in the sense that I'd never been to Cambridge. But then, when I did go, the contrast between Leeds, which was very black and sooty in those days, and Cambridge, which seemed like something out of a fairystory, in the grip of a hard frost, was just wonderful. Alan Bennett holy-grail frost black I've never forgotten that experience. But I had nobody at school that was either like Hector or Irwin. The masters had no idea what was expected of you in the scholarship exam, so you just had to busk it really. Alan Bennett forgotten ideas school f they'd been working with Alec Guinness, for instance, they wouldn't have known they were born if they'd not towed the line! Alan Bennett guinness born lines The thing I think about is that once you've done it, you then start to think about what you're going to do next. It's much easier to follow something that's not been as successful as this. Alan Bennett done successful thinking If, for instance, we'd made the film after the show had been to Broadway, it would have been exactly the same film but we would have been assured that they would have understood it. We didn't have to do any alterations for Broadway. I was supposed to go a fortnight before it opened to alter anything that was necessary and there was nothing really. Alan Bennett broadway film made I think the writer's quite low down in the hierarchy really. But the fact that they took the piss out of Nicholas [Hynter] who, besides being the director, is also director of the National Theatre is, I'd have thought, slightly more risky. Alan Bennett theatre directors thinking Teachers need to feel they are trusted. They must be allowed some leeway to use their imagination; otherwise, teaching loses all sense of wonder and excitement. Alan Bennett teachers feel imagination wonder We were all miners in our family. My father was a miner. My mother is a miner. These are miner's hands, but we were all artists, I suppose, really. But I was the first one who had the urge to express myself on paper rather than at the coalface. Alan Bennett myself family mother father The bits I most remember about my school days are those that took place outside the classroom, as we were taken on countless theatre visits and trips to places of interest. Alan Bennett place school-days remember school Closing a public library is child abuse, really, because it hinders child development. Alan Bennett child library abuse development Sometimes, particularly in summers in New York, I have tried to write in shorts or with no shirt on and found myself unable to do so, the reason being, I take it, that writing, even of the most impersonal sort, is for me a divestment, a striptease, even, so that if I start off undressed, I have nowhere to go. Alan Bennett start myself me sometimes I always like to break out and address the audience. In 'The History Boys', for instance, without any ado, the boys will suddenly turn and talk to the audience and then go back into the action. I find it more adventurous doing it in prose than on the stage, but I like being able to make the reader suddenly sit up. Alan Bennett will doing action history I always feel over-appreciated but underestimated. Alan Bennett feel always underestimated I didn't even have a clear idea of why I wanted to go to Oxford - apart from the fact I had fallen in love with the architecture. It certainly wasn't out of some great sense of academic or intellectual achievement. In many ways, my education only began after I'd left university. Alan Bennett great achievement education love I'm less genial than people think, but I'm too timid to seem nasty. Alan Bennett than think nasty people I'm more socialist certainly than New Labour - I'm very old Labour, really. Alan Bennett old more new labour I don't believe in private education. Alan Bennett private education believe Similar Authors Alan Ayckbourn playwright Bonnie Greer playwright Annie Baker playwright August Wilson playwright August Strindberg playwright Athol Fugard playwright All Authors
