Bed Among the Lentils [Paperback]

Married to a country vicar, Susan leads a life completely lacking in excitement, and in this long monologue she describes her day-to-day activities in minute, often hilarious, detail. A perceptive woman with a sharp eye, sarcastic wit, and palpable yearning for what is missing from her life, she describes the "fan club" that constantly surrounds Geoffrey, their patronizing attitudes toward her, and Geoffrey's own cocoon-like existence. Emotionally blind, Geoffrey even praises Susan's cooking, a dinner of "chicken wings with tuna fish sauce," tinned peaches for dessert, and instant coffee with "Carnation milk," leading Susan to refer satirically to "the supreme joy of the married state."

Susan has been committed to Geoffrey and the church for so long that she dates all events by the church calendar and often explains herself through Biblical references. Lately, however, she has begun to question whether she even believes in God anymore, and she has silently rebelled by smoking and drinking in private. By her own admission, she must wander farther and farther from the vicarage to obtain the requisite alcohol to get through her days, and on "the second Sunday after Trinity," she finds a new escape. In an Indian grocery store, she meets Ramesh, a twenty-seven-year-old clerk with "beautiful teeth," and "wonderful legs." Though she has always regarded sex as "shame-faced fumblings" and "frightful collisions," she finds herself drawn inextricably to Ramesh, and soon finds a "bed among the lentils" and a kind of happiness she has never known.

Playwright Alan Bennett, perhaps most famous as the primary author of the sixties revue "Beyond the Fringe," shows as much comic irony here as he does in that landmark production, and just as much precision with language. Wielding language like a rapier, Bennett, through Susan, makes word choices that convey a multitude of meanings, emotions, and attitudes simultaneously. Her description of Mrs. Frobisher's flower arrangement, for example--a "Japanese number" using a "test tube" (vase) into which she "throttles" a lone carnation--shows Mrs. Frobisher's sanctimonious behavior, her annoyance with Susan, the depths of Susan's frustration, and Susan's scorn of Geoffrey's "fan club."

Behind the smart remarks, quips, and self-deprecation is an immense sadness, however, and, when portrayed by a versatile actress (like Maggie Smith, who made the role her own), Susan becomes a character of sympathy as well as comic irony. As she explores life with Ramesh but continues to fulfill her role as Mrs. Vicar, the audience sees that despite her frustration Susan is at heart a vicar's wife. Filled with satirical observations and powerful emotions, this brilliant monologue portrays a life both comic and tragic. n Mary Whipple

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