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Talking Heads. Simply A Great Play

Toronto's Alumnae Theatre’s Latest Production a Worthy Expererience

Jan 4, 2009 Tien Providence

Alumnae Theatre's latest production "Talking Heads" takes us on a journey through the lives of three women, each with their own special charm.

Talking Heads, written by celebrated British writer Alan Bennett, is a series of six monologues written for the BBC, all featuring women. They are drawn from the Everywomen of humanity and presented in a way that is funny, but does not stereotype them. The dialogue brings forth, hilarity, sympathy and a deep-felt understanding of what makes these women tick.

Staging Talking Heads

The Alumnae Theatre’s production used only three of the stories. "A Lady of Letters" features Dia Frid; "Her Big Chance", performed by Chantale Groulx, and "Miss Fozzard Finds her Feet", starring Nonnie Griffin. The production played in the Studio Theatre in east-end downtown Toronto; this intimate space proved to be the right setting for audiences to peer into the lives of the three women.

The stage was set up to accommodate the space each of the women use: a living room set with a comfortable chair placed near a window. (The lady of letters used that to spy on her neighbours. She would need all the information for her letter-writing campaigns.) There is a bedroom with a comfortable bed where the actress gets her big chance and gets to play all her parts, and then there is the kitchen dinette where Miss Fozzard tells her story.

The Stories of Talking Heads

"A Lady of Letters" tells the story of a woman who delights in writing letters to people in high places about trivial things. Her delight in receiving an answer brought out laughter from the audience. She has disdain for her neighbours, a young couple that she spies on and writes to the police about. Of course, because she never speaks to these people she ends up coming to the wrong conclusions about them. Her story would be very tragic if it weren’t for the fact the she finds friendship and joy in the most unlikely of places.

The actress in "Her Big Chance" almost begs you to feel sorry for her. Through her tale we learn that she is a struggling actress who has her pride – and only that – to keep her going from one audition to another. When she does get a part, we know that it’s because of her body, but she refuses to believe that. Pity is only staved off because she believes, even as she is being used, that she is a complete artist in doing what she is doing.

"Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet" is the story of a woman who manages through her naivete to bring pleasure to her new chiropodist in return for the joy he brings her, as he massages her feet and soothes her home troubles away. Her description of a friends’ reaction to her story of massaging the man’s back by walking on it with new shoes he bought her raised gales of laughter.

The story of her sick brother and his healing at the hands of a very young, beautiful and frisky caretaker also brought on rounds of laughter, as we discover that the caretaker had another purpose in mind.

Talking Heads was a great way for Alumnae to end the first half of their season. Theatregoers are certainly looking forward to the next production in 2009.

The copyright of the article Talking Heads. Simply A Great Play in Modern World Theatre is owned by Tien Providence. Permission to republish Talking Heads. Simply A Great Play in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Dia Frid In Lady Of Letters