''Single Spies'' is a 1988 double bill written by the English playwright

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two ...

. It consists of ''

An Englishman Abroad ''An Englishman Abroad'' is a 1983 BBC television drama film based on the true story of a chance meeting of actress Coral Browne with Guy Burgess, a member of the Cambridge spy ring who spied for the Soviet Union while an officer at MI6. The pr ...

'' and '' A Question of Attribution'', the former an adaptation of a television play the author had written for the BBC in 1983. Both plays depict members of the

Cambridge spy ring The Cambridge Spy Ring was a ring of spies in the United Kingdom that passed information to the Soviet Union during World War II and was active from the 1930s until at least into the early 1950s. None of the known members were ever prosecuted fo ...

and touch on their moral, political and aesthetic beliefs: the first shows

Guy Burgess Guy Francis de Moncy Burgess (16 April 1911 – 30 August 1963) was a British diplomat and Soviet agent, and a member of the Cambridge Five spy ring that operated from the mid-1930s to the early years of the Cold War era. His defection in 1951 ...

in exile in Moscow in 1958, seven years after absconding from Britain. The second focuses on Sir Anthony Blunt while he still holds high office in the Royal Household although known to the security services as a former Soviet agent. The double bill was presented at the National Theatre in December 1988, and transferred to the Queen's Theatre in the West End in February 1989.

''An Englishman Abroad''

The play is based on the true story of a chance meeting of the actress

Coral Browne Coral Edith Browne (23 July 1913 – 29 May 1991) was an Australian-American stage and screen actress. Her extensive theatre credits included Broadway productions of ''Macbeth'' (1956), '' The Rehearsal'' (1963) and '' The Right Honourable Gent ...

, with

, a member of the

, who worked for the Soviet Union while serving with MI6 and fled to exile in Moscow to avoid arrest in 1951. Browne was in Moscow in 1958 as a member of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company playing Gertrude in ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'' to Russian audiences. Her Hamlet,

Michael Redgrave Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave CBE (20 March 1908 – 21 March 1985) was an English stage and film actor, director, manager and author. He received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''Mourning Becomes Elec ...

, had been at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

with Burgess, who came to see him. Burgess also met Browne, who undertook to visit his London tailor on her return to order new suits for him. Bennett took this incident and dramatised it for television. Browne played her 25-years-younger self, and

Alan Bates Sir Alan Arthur Bates (17 February 1934 – 27 December 2003) was an English actor who came to prominence in the 1960s, when he appeared in films ranging from the popular children's story '' Whistle Down the Wind'' to the " kitchen sink" dram ...

played Burgess. All the other characters, including Redgrave, were anonymised by Bennett. The play was first broadcast on

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

on 29 November 1983 with the following cast: *Guy Burgess – Alan Bates *Coral – Coral Browne *Claudius – Charles Gray *Rosencrantz –

Harold Innocent Harold Sidney Innocent (18 April 1933 – 12 September 1993) was an English actor who appeared in many film and television roles. After attending Broad Street Secondary Modern School in Coventry, Innocent worked for a short time as an office c ...

*Guildenstern –

Vernon Dobtcheff Vernon Dobtcheff (born 14 August 1934) is a British actor, best known for his roles on television and film, he has acted in numerous stage productions. Biography Dobtcheff was born in Nîmes, France, of Russian descent. He attended Ascham Pre ...

*General – Czeslaw Grocholski *Boy – Matthew Sim *Hamlet – Mark Wing-Davey *Hotel receptionist – Faina Zinova *Toby – Douglas Reith *Giles –

Peter Chelsom Peter Chelsom (born 20 April 1956) is a British film director, writer, and actor. He has directed such films as ''Hector and the Search for Happiness'', ''Serendipity'', and '' Shall We Dance?'' Peter Chelsom is a member of the British Academ ...

*Tessa – Judy Gridley *Scarfman – Bibs Ekkel *Tolya – Alexei Jawdokimov *Mrs Burgess – Molly Veness *Tailor –

Denys Hawthorne Denys Vernon Hawthorne (9 August 1932 – 16 October 2009) was an actor from Northern Ireland who was known for his work in theatre, film, television and radio. Life Denys Hawthorne was born into an upper middle-class Protestant family in Portad ...

*Shoe shop assistant – Roger Hammond *George –

Charles Lamb Charles Lamb (10 February 1775 – 27 December 1834) was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian, best known for his '' Essays of Elia'' and for the children's book '' Tales from Shakespeare'', co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764� ...

*Pyjama shop manager –

Trevor Baxter Trevor Baxter (18 November 1932 – 16 July 2017) was a British actor and playwright. He was educated at Dulwich College and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Early years A postal worker's son, Baxter was born in Lewisham, London, England, and ...

The film was directed by

John Schlesinger John Richard Schlesinger (; 16 February 1926 – 25 July 2003) was an English film and stage director. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for ''Midnight Cowboy'', and was nominated for the same award for two other films ('' Darling'' an ...

:Source: BBC. For the stage version Bennett substantially rewrote the script, cutting out many minor characters. At the National Theatre premiere on 1 December 1988 the cast was: *Coral –

Prunella Scales Prunella Margaret Rumney West Scales (''née'' Illingworth; born 22 June 1932) is an English former actress, best known for playing Sybil Fawlty, wife of Basil Fawlty (John Cleese), in the BBC comedy '' Fawlty Towers'', her nomination for a ...

*Burgess –

Simon Callow Simon Phillip Hugh Callow (born 15 June 1949) is an English film, television and voice actor, director, narrator and writer. He was twice nominated for BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his roles in ''A Room with a View'' (19 ...

*Tolya –

Paul Brightwell Paul Brightwell is an English actor and director. He has acted in many different plays, films and TV shows since the late 1980s. Theatre direction includes the British premieres of Heiner Muller's ''Hamletmachine'' at the Gate Notting Hill, and W ...

*Tailor –

*Shop Assistant – Edward Halsted The play was directed by Bennett. :Source: Playscript.Bennett, p. 14

''A Question of Attribution''

The second play is based on

Anthony Blunt Anthony Frederick Blunt (26 September 1907 – 26 March 1983), styled Sir Anthony Blunt KCVO from 1956 to November 1979, was a leading British art historian and Soviet spy. Blunt was professor of art history at the University of London, dire ...

's role in the Cambridge Spy Ring and, as

Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures The office of the Surveyor of the King's/Queen's Pictures, in the Royal Collection Department of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom, is responsible for the care and maintenance of the royal collection of pictures owned by ...

, personal art adviser to Queen Elizabeth II. Bennett portrays his continuing interrogation by Chubb, an

MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...

officer; his work researching and restoring art; and an unexpected meeting with the Queen while he and an assistant are rehanging paintings at

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

. The Queen, though ostensibly discussing aesthetic matters with him, interrogates Blunt more probingly than the MI5 man has done. The play was lightly revised for a television version first shown on 20 October 1991. The casts of the stage and screen versions were: The stage play was directed by Simon Callow. The television version was directed by John Schlesinger. The plays were adapted for radio in 2006, with

Brigit Forsyth Brigit Forsyth (born 28 July 1940) is a Scottish actress, best known for her roles as Thelma Ferris in the BBC comedy ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'' and Helen Yeldham in the ITV drama'' Boon''. Since December 2013, Forsyth has appear ...

as Coral and Simon Callow as Burgess in the first play, and

Edward Petherbridge Edward Petherbridge (born 3 August 1936) is an English actor, writer and artist. Among his many roles, he portrayed Lord Peter Wimsey in the 1987 BBC television adaptations of Dorothy L. Sayers' novels, and Guildenstern in Tom Stoppard's ''R ...

as Blunt and Prunella Scales as the Queen in the second."The Saturday Play: Betrayal"
BBC Genome. Retrieved 15 July 2020

Reception

In a televised documentary ''Caviar to the General'' broadcast on UK

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

in 1990, shortly before her death,

humorously described her reaction to seeing the stage version of ''An Englishman Abroad'', particularly expressing her irritation at the costumes. She recalled that when she made the film version, the costume designer went to great lengths to find out what she wore at the time the story is set, but when she saw the stage costumes she exclaimed: "I nearly died. Fake fur and hats that wouldn't have come out of a grab bag at the Sally Army. I was mortified. If the play ever comes to Broadway, I shall go armed with three lawyers and sue. I consider it a defamation".

References and sources

References

Sources

External links

* * {{OlivierAward Comedy 1976–2000 1988 plays Plays by Alan Bennett Comedy plays Laurence Olivier Award-winning plays West End plays