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Alan Bennett at the Edinburgh Book FestivalDateline: 13th August, 2007In her introduction to this event, Festival director Catherine Lockerbie called us in the audience, "the luckiest people on the planet" because "you are the ones that got the tickets". Bennett's rare public appearance at the Festival was the first to sell out within hours of tickets going on sale, and people were queuing for returns at 9:30am for this 3pm event, some of whom had brought their own chairs. Bennett was at the Festival promoting his new short novel The Uncommon Reader which is not officially released until September but is available exclusively from the Festival bookshop a month early. In the story, the Queen discovers a mobile library in the grounds of Buckingham Palace and pays it a visit, which results in her becoming an obsessive reader and neglecting her other duties. He read a lengthy section from the book for a very appreciative audience; somehow Bennett's distinctive voice brings out the humour of his own quirky phraseology in a way that no one else could. He also read some extracts from his memoirs Untold Stories, which showed that he can make real life sound as charming and as funny as his fictional creations. In the question and answer session, he was asked about the influence of his native Yorkshire on his later work. He said that writers are often accused of exploiting their background and he has been accused of exploiting his parents, but this is the only resource a writer has. He admitted that he writes more about Yorkshire than he used to but not exclusively, and it doesn't figure in his current plans. He first came to Edinburgh in 1959 with a revue called Better Late, and the cast slept on the floor of the Masonic temple by the castle. He thought of Edinburgh as romantic, "like being abroad without any of the disadvantages". On his time at Oxford, he said he was a little disappointed as he actually enjoyed the period prior to this much more when he did his National Service, especially when he was able to do a course in Russian at Cambridge. He confirmed, in response to an audience question, that he was asked to be on the 'reality' TV show I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. He asked his agent to enquire about who else would be on it as he was intrigued, but the programme makers were keeping very tight-lipped about this. However because he was making enquiries they got very excited thinking he was interested, but he couldn't imagine anything worse. Bennett was asked about his favourites from the Talking Heads series, and he said there were a couple that he believed to be perfect. One was Bed Among the Lentils, in which he directed Maggie Smith but said she needed no direction at all, and also any starring Patricia Routledge. The ones starring Thora Hird were remarkable as well. He said he also likes Nights in the Gardens of Spain that starred Penelope Wilton, but says, which he doesn't agree with at all, that he was told off for showing an old-fashioned attitude to women in this piece. On his view on the collaborative process of theatre as opposed to novels, he says he is always involved with the rehearsals for the first production of a play. He has worked with Nick Hytner now for fifteen years, and he attended every rehearsal for The History Boys. After the first production, he believes the writer has to let go of the play and "think of yourself as a dead author really". He is often invited to productions of his plays but he never goes as they would have ideas different from his own. When asked about his own favourite authors, he just mentioned the one: Flannery O'Connor. He said, "it spoils you for reading, does writing" as if it is good you wonder why you are bothering and if it is bad you wonder why on earth they bothered. I managed to ask him, while he was signing my book, whether he was planning to write else for the theatre. He said he is working on something now but he wouldn't like to say anything about it at the moment, but he spends most of the time staring out of the window. The Uncommon Reader is officially released on 6 September 2007 but is available now from the Edinburgh International Book Festival bookshop at Charlotte Square Gardens. David Chadderton
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