Говорящие головы: Пьесы Алана Беннета

British television drama series
the British TV show Talking Heads

Talking Heads is a 1988 TV series of dramatic monologues written for BBC television by British playwright Alan Bennett. The first series was broadcast on BBC1 in 1988, and adapted for radio on BBC Radio 4 in 1991. A second series was broadcast on BBC Two in 1998. They have since been included on the A level and GCSE English Literature syllabus. Some episodes aired on PBS in the United States as part of its Masterpiece Theatre programme. In 2020, the BBC remade 10 of the existing episodes, with two brand new stories.

There are two series of Talking Heads, six monologues in each, along with an earlier (1982) play, A Woman of No Importance, which, while not released alongside Talking Heads, generally fits into the canon. Although the plays deal with a variety of subjects, there are certain recurring themes, such as death, illness, guilt and isolation. All of the characters are childless with the notable exception of Muriel in "Soldiering On"; Violet in "Waiting for the Telegram" is told she has a son, but she does not remember him. Most of the plays give some hint as to where they are set, mostly in Leeds, although not (as Bennett stresses) the "real" Leeds, but rather one that exists in his head. For example, Matthias Robinsons, in which Miss Fozzard works, closed in the 1970s.

Each episode consists of an individual monologue and therefore in most episodes only one character appears. The only exception is when Steven Beard features as a policeman in "A Cream Cracker under the Settee". Julie Walters, Patricia Routledge and Thora Hird appear as different characters in both series. The show was produced by Innes Lloyd and Ralph Wilton (series 1) and Mark Shivas (series 2), while Alan Bennett, Stuart Burge, Giles Foster, Tristram Powell, Gavin Millar, Patrick Garland, Stuart Garland and Udayan Prasad directed individual episodes. The music was written by George Fenton.

Actors are named for the earlier of the BBC television versions.

The radio shows were released as two CDs in 1999. In 2007, the monologues were published as a book titled Talking Heads. There have also been a number of DVD and video releases, the most recent in 2005 entitled The Complete Talking Heads. This release also features Bennett's autobiographical Telling Tales monologues from 2000.

A West End theatre production, also entitled Talking Heads, opened at the Comedy Theatre in January 1992 for a 10 week season, starring Patricia Routledge and Alan Bennett, who also directed, plus piano interludes by Jeremy Sams. In 2002, seven of the pieces were performed at the Tiffany Theater in Los Angeles for a highly praised engagement. In 2003, the Los Angeles production was staged Off Broadway, at the Minetta Lane Theatre with a few changes in casting and creative personnel, and replacement of one of its seven monologues. This version was recognised with Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle award nominations, and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress (Lynn Redgrave), The Obie Award for Outstanding Performance, (Kathleen Chalfant, Daniel Davis, Christine Ebersole, Valerie Mahaffey, Redgrave, Brenda Wehle), and The Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Foreign Play (Alan Bennett). London's Bridge Theatre staged eight monologues from the 2020 television series in the months following their broadcast. Actors Lucian Msamati, Imelda Staunton, Tamsin Greig, Maxine Peake, Rochenda Sandall, Kristin Scott Thomas, Monica Dolan and Lesley Manville reprised their roles in four double bills. Martin Freeman, Jodie Comer, Harriet Walter and Sarah Lancashire appeared in the TV series, but not in the stage productions.