by Alan Bennett
First published 1988
In "Single Spies & Talking Heads," Alan Bennett skewers Britain's Cold War espionage scandals and the quiet tragedies of ordinary life. "An Englishman Abroad" follows defector Guy Burgess' Moscow exile, while "A Question of Attribution" imagines a confrontation between the Queen and notorious "fourth man" Anthony Blunt. Elsewhere, Bennett's acclaimed "Talking Heads" monologues reveal the hilarious and heartbreaking lives of everyday people - from a minister's wife with a drinking problem to a middle-aged man still in thrall to his mother. Wickedly funny yet profoundly moving, these plays expose the absurdities of both high-stakes espionage and the mundane dramas we all face.
Genres: drama, plays, literary-fiction, 20th-century, mystery, espionage
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Courtauld Institute, England, National Gallery
Period: Cold War
157 pages · Hardcover · Summit Books