Talking Heads – Playing Sandwiches & Lady of Letters

A series of monologues, funny and poignant, normally from two to four of these would be performed at a time. A Cream Cracker Under The Settee tells of an old woman who has a fall, but her pride doesn’t allow her to accept help. Bed Among the Lentils tells of a woman with a drink problem, married to a vicar who exploits her recovery actually caused by an affair with an Indian shopkeeper. A Lady of Letters is the story of a woman obsessed with writing letters of complaint and reporting her neighbours who eventually finds comfort in prison. Soldiering On is the tale of a well-to-do woman who finds one day that she’s a widow and her husband has left her ill equipped to handle her own affairs – and her son loses her money in bad investments.

Playing Sandwiches – Wilfred is a parks attendant with a fondness for liquorice allsorts. After he befriends a seven-year-old girl and her mother on the bandstand, it starts to become clear why his employers can’t trace his records. Lucian Msamati plays Wilfred Lady of Letters – Irene Ruddock spends her life dashing off letters of complaint. When she’s not writing, she’s keeping an eye on the couple opposite and a little girl with bruises. But when the police come by, it’s Irene whose life is turned upside down. Imelda Staunton plays Miss Ruddock.