Single Spies Talking [Board book]

Alan Bennett (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Bennet is best known as a member of the quartet (along with Dudley Moore, Peter Cook, and Jonathan Miller) responsible for the comedically influential London and Broadway revue Beyond the Fringe . "An Englishman Abroad" and "A Question of Attribution," the two one-act plays here which comprise Single Spies, concern, respectively, Guy Burgess, a Foreign Office diplomat, and (Sir) Anthony Blunt, an eminent art historian and former Keeper of the Royal Pictures, both spies recruited by the KGB during World War II. The resultant juxtaposition is an interesting portrait of the traitor in exile (Burgess) and a metaphorical discussion between critic (Blunt) and monarch concerning art forgery. The six monologs of Talking Heads, originally written for television, are all delightfully quirky; the abundance of British idioms and expressions may thwart North American readers. For all libraries actively collecting 20th-century British playscripts.
- Barry Miller, Austin P.L., Tex.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Board book: 160 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone; Brdbk edition (June 15, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671692496
• ISBN-13: 978-0671692490
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,035,780 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant illumination of lost souls, July 21, 2000

By 

Stephen O. Murray "Stephen O. Murray" (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Single Spies Talking (Board book)

There is something rather sadistic in Alan Bennett's portraits of self-delusion in "Talking Heads." In contrast, his short plays (originally teleplays) about very British Soviet spies are more open to complexity. The most interesting characters are Coral Browne as herself in "An Englishman Abroad" and the queen in "A Question of Attribution," though Burgess and Blunt are multidimensional in ways none of the talking heads are. The scene of the queen and Blunt which was played so well by Prunella Scales and Edward (or was it James?) Fox in the BBC production is brilliantly written. Bennett is, indeed, a master at writing lines that give away or seem to give away more than the character understands-or seems to understand. The audience knows best with the "artless" talking heads, but neither Blunt nor the audience can be quite sure if the queen has toyed with him or is as straightforward and concerned with concrete facts as she presents herself as being. "Who did what?" is also very much in question in the "Titians" Blunt is examining and in the puzzle of who was running the spies who were eventually revealed.