Evening Standard Review

Henry Hitchings of the Evening Standard gives the Bennett double bill four stars. Another good review for Alex:

"The material will be known to Bennett fans. It’s the presentation that feels fresh, and it is a tribute to the skill of Alex Jennings, who appears as the author in both pieces, that one often forgets it isn’t Bennett himself dispensing ironies from the stage.

Jennings has caught the particularity of Bennett’s delivery: the flatness and Eeyorish detachment, with its little flashes of wit. He even manages to look like him, evoking his misleadingly avuncular bearing and wry watchfulness."

Full review at the Evening Standard.

Fayre of St James

On 29 November Alex attended the inaugural charity concert of the Fayre of St James, doing some of the readings at this carol concert. Penelope Wilton was the other reader, while James Morrison provided the music. Proceeds of the concert went to War Child.

Pictures of the events are up on the website of the Quintessentially Foundation.

More pictures are up on the Tatler website.

Guardian Bennett Review

The Guardian's Michael Billington is another critic to praise the Bennett pieces and Alex's performances. Four stars again.

"Alex Jennings plays Bennett to perfection: with his blond fringe and flat vowels, he not only looks and sounds like the original, but also, in the way he surveys the on-stage quartet with an appreciative envy, conveys the solitude of the compulsive non-joiner."

Full review at The Guardian.

Bennett Reviews

Charles Spencer of the Telegraph gives the productions five stars. He praises Alex' performance:
"Jennings superbly captures Bennett’s mixed emotions, in which there lurks the guilt any writer feels about turning those he loves into subject matter."

Full review at The Telegraph.


Paul Taylor of the Independent gives the production four stars, with the part of Bennett being "uncannily well- played by Alex Jennings".

Full review at
The Independent.

Alexandra Coghlan at the Artsdesk.com also praises both the production and Alex' performance:
"Alex Jennings is uncanny as Bennett (it helps that he’s a dead ringer for him), complete with sloping shoulders, apologetic stance and of course the laconic burr of his Leeds accent."

Full review at The Arts Desk.

Cocktail Sticks Production Pictures

The National Theatre have now published the production pictures for Cocktail Sticks at National Theatre website,

Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death

Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra, the first of James Runcie's The Granchester Mystery series featuring Sidney Chambers, a vicar with a neat side line in detection.

Working alongside his friend, Inspector Keating, Chambers finds people will tell him things they might not tell anyone else. While investigating the apparent suicide of a Cambridge solicitor, he discovers that being a detective, like that a clergyman, means you are never off duty.

Alex reads this week on BBC Radio 4 Extra, starting Monday at 06.30. For more information check BBC Radio 4 Extra.

Cocktail Sticks Rehearsal Pictures

The National Theatre put up rehearsal pictures for "Cocktail Sticks".

The picture shows Alex as Alan Bennett with Jeff Rawle and Gabrielle Lloyd as Bennetts parents.

More pictures at the NT website.