Description: By critical and popular description, Alan Bennett is one of England's best-loved playwrights. He is perhaps best known in the UK for the BBC production of his Talking Heads TV plays, while the rest of the world may recognize him for the film adaptation of his play, The Madness of King George. However, over the last thirty years, Bennett has written ten stage, plays, three screenplays, eight television documentaries, and over thirty plays for television. His work has heretofore resisted "serious" reviews in academic publication, as his reputation as a comedic player during the early 60's has haunted him, saddling him with the descriptor "lovable". However, O'Mealy points out that Bennett is a social critic strongly influenced by Beckett and Swift, interested in depicting and analyzing the role playing of everyday life, a'la sociologist Ervin Goffman. As such, after providing a general introduction to Bennett as multifaceted persona, playwright, and actor, O'Mealy looks in depth at Bennett's oeuvre, starting with A Visit from Miss Prothero and concluding with his most recent production, Waiting for the Telegram.

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