Bed Among the Lentils

[@peterbreughel4440]

I just watched this again and noticed that there is an empty glass on the kitchen table in the opening shot. The writing, the performance and the direction are all in perfect alignment.

[@voulafisentzidis8830]

Written by the fabulous Alan Bennett as part of what became his Talking Heads series. Brilliantly acted by Maggie Smith and other wonderful British actors.

[@lucindaarmour7422]

Thinking of everyone who has come to this on hearing of her passing today. Not Harry Potter, or Dowton Abbey or Marigold Hotel but this. Her at her superb best. Vale Dame Maggie Smith.

[@StCloud-ns7vt]

I have six streaming platforms but i usually end up on youtube watching this sort of obscure masterpiece.

[@macnellietwo]

Me too

[@helenkato7227]

And me..from NZ 🦋

[@the_dire_wolf]

Here's to you, Dame Maggie, and thank you so much for the decades of unforgettable greatness! 😭

[@maryeliason1504]

Oh yes❤

[@lucycloverlincoln111]

I had the absolute priviledge of seeing Dame Maggie on stage in my home town performing this live. What a memory. Vale, good lady Dame.

[@Broadwaybuff-pi1qg]

Wow. Lucky you. This is one of my favourite performances, not just of Maggie's, but of any actor! I've watched it so many times and still marvel at it. I didn't know she also performed it in theatres. Where was this?

[@leanneebbs570]

I saw her perform it in Perth in 2004 👍

[@Broadwaybuff-pi1qg]

R.I.P. Dame Maggie. Just heard the sad news. Thank you for the sheer joy of your phenomenal talent. So few actors are equally good at drama and comedy, and Maggie Smith was so brilliant at both, as beautifully demonstrated in this monologue. As Alan Bennett said, "she can turn on a dime." In an article in The Telegraph after her death, the British stage director Nicholas Hytner, who directed her in several productions, had a beautiful comment that sums up her talent so well: " The performing arts matter, and the greatest performing artists, the ones so in command of what they are doing, are so naturally skilled and so honest that they make life bearable, and understandable. “Sarah Siddons, Ellen Terry. Of course, we never saw them. But Maggie is definitely in that line.”

[@joshdrayton1230]

Maggie Smith later performed this monologue on stage in the West End. She had such a great command of the audience that she managed to double the laughs, often simply with a look that created anticipation of a wicked observation to come, and therefore provoked a laugh where there certainly wasn't one in the script. It was a masterclass in comedy.

[@nickbigd]

I cherish all Maggie Smith performances, but this one has stuck in my head. My old VHS tape is long gone. So happy to find the performance here.

[@JJfromPhilly67]

I want everyone who has enjoyed any of Dame Maggie Smith's shows/movies to be sure to see this. I remember watching this on Masterpiece Theater in the late 1980s and was so impressed with Ms. Smith's acting abilities. It, like any role she played, was done so well and believable. Rest in Peace Dame Maggie and thank you for everything.

[@philhayhoe1]

A great example of the genius of Maggie Smith, Rest In Peace Dame Maggie.Also a great example of the genius of Alan Bennett...

[@Broadwaybuff-pi1qg]

A perfect combination of two great artists. And Bennett also directed it, and it's so beautifully filmed and staged here. Quietly and trusting the audience. Nothing flashy. Just great writing and a great actress.

[@sollion2]

Maggie Smith has the ability to hold us in the palms of her hands, while she mesmerizes, entrances and manipulates our feelings and psyche. There is no one like her. Bravo Ms Maggie Smith.

[@DavidBrowningBYD]

Heh heh heh....you said palms, like Palm Sunday!

[@wtamax4813]

Dame Maggie Smith, if you please. 💜

[@GriffGriffith]

Good bye dear Maggie. You were loved.

[@blessings4381]

From the U.S....Thank you! Seeing this for the first time. Just days after her passing, it was such a lovely gift that this could be shared with those who treasured her life work.

[@TheLongislandlimey]

An oldie but goodie. Seeing this series when originally broadcast in 1987 turned me on to the genius that is Alan Bennett

[@Broadwaybuff-pi1qg]

Same! I love his own performance of A Chip in the Sugar, part of this same "Talking Heads" series.

[@PlayerClarinet]

In case anyone cares, the music over the closing credits is Unde et Memores by W H Monk. Often used for the hymn "And now, O Father, mindful of the love".

[@uptoncriddington6939]

One of my favourites.

[@pauls.9228]

Thank you for identifying this music, I was wondering what it was.

[@fionabryant7923]

ThNks so much❤

[@ernestbryanthinnant8861]

we lost a true legend today - a master

[@laursey1969]

I was lucky enough to see Dame Maggie perform this live..... she cracked up an entire theatre with the simple line, “Big day for you....” Only the best actors can do Mr Bennett’s lines justice.

[@JoyOfSnarks]

Im in my 50s I feel about the same age as Maggie was here, and I was about 18 when this was made. She was already an "older woman" in the 80s and only just now finally gone.Old age is long.

[@uhuhyup5328]

Heaps of kudos given to Maggie's acting and Alan's writing, and rightly deserved so. But I also like to give credit to the director and the camera work done on this as well as the music by the great George Fenton. None of them had that outsized ego to stamp some narcissistic individuality on this piece that could have ruined it altogether. Instead they tread very lightly and give the lightest of touch to it and the rest of the series, resulting in the perfect touch. Nothing unnecessary, nothing over dramatized (camera, pacing, music, etc), so what we get is the masterpiece in perfect form, no gilding of the lily here. Very tasteful really. Thank you for this.

[@Broadwaybuff-pi1qg]

The director was also Alan Bennett. Nice that he was able to handle the adaptation of his own writing. So many writers aren't happy with what happens to their scripts after the directors take over.

[@MsSoundguy]

This is why I am addicted to KZbin. I'd heard about "Talking Heads" but had never seen any episodes. I have seen Dame Maggie in many films and saw her onstage once. If I see her name, I will watch. But this is a side of her I'd never experienced, which makes it all the more stunning. I knew Alan Bennett was an incisive writer...this is ... I count myself beyond fortunate for having seen this tonight.

[@stephenwilliams6809]

MsSoundguy %zzzzz

[@shirleysavitts9647]

Not the Wind in the Willows. Transforming the alter into a scene from Bambi.. a booby trap..Riotous laughter from here for sure. O love Dame Maggie Smith's delivery of scabious wit so quietly... She is boundless with talent.

[@shellymercurygaga9164]

The epitome of sarcasm and pessimistic brilliance! I love Dame Maggie forever ❤️. Glad to have shared this time on earth with Maggie.

[@Maiken2589]

You have meant a great deal to me Dame Maggie Smith, thank you for all that you have given us over the years. Rest in peace❤

[@2legit64]

Dame Maggie put on an acting clinic with this. The moment towards the end when her voice catches when she talks about Mr. Ramash leaving, was absolutely brilliant. It only lasted about two or three seconds, but it was absolutely powerful.

[@grai]

Incredible how Alan Bennett makes the story so sad and so funny at the same time And genius level acting from her of course

[@timforbes4967]

+grai It's called Talent!

[@annazaman9657]

The flower arrangement scene retold is brilliant. The sarcasm that drips from her lips.......

[@credenza1]

When Maggie performed this in Perth (Australia), the audience was in stitches after the first line. I've never seen anything like it. Her timing is miraculous.

[@leanneebbs570]

I saw the first show. I remember there was a box of cornflakes on stage and I accidentally said "special K" and laughed.

[@susanstinson]

So beautful to experience the art of Maggie Smith as a way to say goodbye and thank you. Oh, the lentils.

[@jotripodi9872]

Just another reason why I love Maggie Smith.... I held on to every word she spoke

[@Scottsteaux63]

She was hypnotic. I saw THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE at least five times, I was so enchanted by her.

[@patriciamackinlay6495]

rewatched this after a few years and found it as brilliant as ever. A wonderful actress and brilliant writing. The best of British indeed xxx

[@conversacionesconmipadre]

Dame Maggie Smith is one of the few that deserves to be called Dame in absolutely every sense of the word. She is a national treasure!

[@eileenoconnor491]

Amazingly beautiful, and heartbreaking.

[@Broadwaybuff-pi1qg]

Thank you for posting this. I first saw this when PBS aired it in the 1980s on Masterpiece Theatre, and it is still one of my favourite pieces and favourite performances ever. The brilliance of Alan Bennett's writing is both hilarious and heartbreaking as he creates this character from the Anglican church world he knew so well. And then he had the brilliance to cast Maggie. For me, along with Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, this shows Maggie Smith's phenomenal range in a way that her more recent roles haven't. It shows her talent and timing so much more than she's been given the chance to do n her senior years. She's hilarious in Downtown Abbey and brilliant in her line delivery, but it doesn't need the range that this piece does. I have heard other actors do this role, both on radio and on stage in New York. Nobody has come anywhere close to what she does with it. She can go from a hilarious line to making you cry within a split second, and the final moments are devastating. Brava, Maggie! Bravo, Mr. Bennett, for your writing and superb direction.

[@josephlewis1592]

I also loves her in My House in Umbria. Brilliant

[@voulafisentzidis8830]

I love her performances in these 'one-off' roles. She was excellent in The Lonely Passion Of Judith Hearne, and Love, And Pain, And The Whole Damn Thing.

[@Scottsteaux63]

My God, it's been YEARS since I first saw the "Talking Heads" series, and for my money "Bed Among the Lentils," starring the incomparable Maggie Smith, is the best of them, though Patricia Routledge's "A Woman of No Importance" runs a close second. I don't think I have ever seen Maggie Smith give less than a wonderful performance in anything she has done. And to do so in a solo monologue is a miracle of the actor's art.

[@cor8129]

I could not agree more.

[@mattecow]

I watched this years ago on PBS and have never forgotten the brilliance of the dialogue and of course, Maggie Smith. It occurred to me to look for it online and to my absolute joy was able to enjoy this masterpiece once again.

[@ShearsOfAtropos]

always worth a rewatch, I will never get tired of this. The ending lines give me chills

[@judybourgeois5202]

I am thrilled to find this on KZbin. I remember this from the original broadcast. There are so many lines I remember but when I watched it again I realized Maggie's pauses are as poignant as the words.

[@barbaraandrews7615]

I was riveted by Dame Maggie in this. Such a small story and a large one at the same time.

[@ladya8869]

Dame Maggie smith is beyond brilliant

[@avidreader111]

Saw it on stage some 20 years ago. It was one half of a performance called Talking Heads. Along with this play Margaret Tyzack performed a piece called Soldiering On. Both of them were exquisite. They don't make them better than this.

[@robertperry814]

A wonderfully written piece done by a geat actor. Perfection.

[@thecobaltroom]

I am mesmerized... The talent here is simply out of this world. What an amazing, awe inspiring performance. I feel as if I am in a hypnotic trance. She is absolutely majestic. Thank you so much for posting this.

[@John-i4d5f]

Best ever God bless you Maggie!

[@johnellis414]

You just can't beat the "great dames" of Britain! Incredible!❤❤❤

[@kestalphillips1813]

I had the pleasure - thrill, actually - of seeing Maggie Smith onstage when I lived in NYC. In Tom Stoppard's "Night and Day" and Noel Coward's "Private Lives". In those plays as in this one, she was extraordinary.

[@clarequilty4962]

For the masses who only know and love Maggie Smith for her old dowager bitches, for her flying hands and rubber wrists (all of which is lots of fun, no argument), HERE is the genius under the camp. She hardly moves her body, and it is impossible to look away. She knows this wistful woman who has no self-pity right down to the slightest nuance, and never does she seem to be saying "Watch me Act!" The monologues of her pastor's wife are rich with irony and loss, but not bitter. Her change in the final scene made me almost cheer at the screen.

[@idrissaebrahim3261]

Her timing is perfect, everytime, she is just amazing

[@dsantamaria713]

Allen Bennett's work is brilliant, added with the amazing talents of these outstanding Actors, I'm forever grateful for such magnificent performances... I watch them over and over, and never tire of them.. The dialog, and the emotion portrayed by the participants, are perfection personified! Bravo to all! ♥️♥️

[@olgayaleo729]

you were a gift throughout my life and to the world. thank you and rip, great lady...😔

[@carolinebarnes6832]

'Jeffrery's bad enough but I'm glad I wasn't married to Jesus.' What a great opening line!

[@septemberrain3197]

WOW!! I love her, I just love her playing....more please :-)

[@boleyn123]

Have been looking for this for years. My original tape was worn out. She was stupendous. Without doubt the greatest actress of our time. Cheers.

[@timforbes4967]

+mark prescott You can get it on DVD or CD.

[@boleyn123]

Tim Forbes Ta mate, will start looking around. Cheers.

[@HeleneGuthrie]

She is so brilliant in this.

[@Broadwaybuff-pi1qg]

One of my favourite performances by any actor ever. Not just Maggie

[@wandajames6234]

The INCOMPARABLE Maggie Smith. Superlative writing, unbelievably talented delivery.

[@fkd1963]

A master class in how to act for the television camera. Bravura.

[@jerseydiaries389]

Bennet. Smith. Absolute legends. Both still with us. ❤❤❤

[@ewalden1080]

I've been looking for this film for years. It doesn't seem to be listed on most film collections, not even Netflix. It is a gem!!

[@EricNorton627]

Eleanor Walden Amazon has both "Talking Heads" series in a DVD box set for around £15, I believe. Well worth the money!

[@Larkinchance]

Maggie Smith as a highly intelligent woman trapped in a pedestrian existence as a vicar's wife. Mr. Rammish, the Young Hindi grocer briefly shows her a way out, only to move on. What a masterpiece!

[@Currabell]

Genius. Writing and performance.

[@cield3987]

And yesterday she passed away, surrounded by loved ones.😢

[@russellgrenning1317]

I have never seen the sublime Maggie Smith do better than this - ever! She is a truly wonderful, fabulous actor.

[@shirleysavitts9647]

The rendition of flower arrangements at the church was just too tongue in cheek funny. Dame Maggie is unequivacable in any and all roles.

[@robinnes2662]

Absolutely sublime, both script and performance.

[@58christiansful]

She is mesmerizing to watch and listen to.

[@chocksoldier4376]

Excellent. Was good to see it again after all tis time. Thanks Penny.

[@andrewcarr4256]

Marvellous

[@leanneebbs570]

saw Maggie perform this in 2004 in Perth, Australia and weirdly my main memory is of the box of cornflakes on stage, i laughed out loud and said "special K"😆 i noticed she touched the box, i think she heard me lol

[@elainebarnes2772]

Will always love Dame Maggie Smith...just feel bad for not discovering her many many yrs ago. Thank you for sharing!

[@ZENmud]

3:21 😢 "... the rare and dessicated conjunctions that occur between Geoffrey and me..." ❤❤❤😢

[@bealtainecottage]

Brilliant Maggie Smith!

[@willworkforwages]

Not surprisingly, Dame Maggie is extraordinary Thanks you for posting this.

[@NorthernFella]

so so so amazing I'd forgotten how powerful these are. The script and the perfromence as well.

[@rongruber5855]

Alan did an outstanding job on these monologs.

[@Tenortalker]

She is magical!

[@jags.3389]

“...Why the vicar’s wife has to go to church at all. A barrister’s wife doesn’t have to go to court, an artist wife doesn’t have to go to every performance”

[@Neldidellavittoria]

Brilliant. Thanks for the upload.

[@christinemartin63]

Holy Mother of God! She is unworldly--so nuanced, so good. What a performance.

[@Broadwaybuff-pi1qg]

This for me is one of my favourite performances by her, equalled only by the feature film The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, in which she is also superb.

[@christinemartin63]

@@Broadwaybuff-pi1qg Indeed ... how right you are!

[@bransrubar]

We bid farewell to an amazing actress😢

[@mihaelatudor2417]

Maggie Smith, we - the lesser mortals - salute you !!!!!

[@seau2007]

An amazing actress. Timeless

[@Cor6196]

Perfection on every level!

[@jessiejames7492]

the lady in the yellow van the two of them again. i love that film. watched it so many times. class act both of them

[@JonathonWoodgate]

I have no words to describe how gloriously and deliciously brilliant this is...

[@TheCaithleen]

Amazing! Brilliant!!! So Maggie!

[@jopieris5703]

Thanks. seen Allenl Bennet's monologues.enjoyed it very much. thanks again,

[@patriciamackinlay6495]

wonderful indeed ,clever words so brilliantly acted ,we believe evey word(I top of a thrill packed morning by taking around meals on wheels) .Thanks for posting

[@louisecross]

Genius writer, absolutely masterful performer

[@Matthew-p2h]

the heartbreaking lament of someone trapped....moving but deeply sad.

[@ferdiriordan1]

Outstanding.Thank you for posting.

[@fionabryant7923]

This is brilliant, and so sad. Thank you

[@macgiollafhionntog]

my gawd the woman is a national treasure

[@pdgf]

Kate McClintock she's a global treasure! 😃

[@jerrykitich3318]

Let's split the difference and say she's a national treasure in every nation on the earth.

[@jerseydiaries389]

Amen!

[@sunshine9016]

Superb writing... Brilliant performance!!

[@jameswane8044]

Thank you, that was fabulous.

[@italo-enzobart4183]

Nice story loved..thanks Susan

[@DavidBrowningBYD]

I saw this several years ago on DVD--I must have rented it or something--and I'm amazed to see it again. I can not think of one American actress equal to this performance. Perhaps some of the great British dames of the theater could compare to Dame Maggie, but no American I can bring to mind in the moment.

[@harmoniabalanza]

oh Meryl Streep could do it. 30 years ago.

[@Broadwaybuff-pi1qg]

@@harmoniabalanza She's American, and while good at accents, just wouldn't understand the entire world of this woman the way Maggie does.

[@mariacalzadaperez2715]

Superb Smith. Superb Bennett!!!

[@stevesandford1437]

PERFECT WRITING and PERFECT INTERPRETATION from GIANTS of their craft... (Maggie Smith particularly SHINES in that in that IT'S HARD to portray a character that SHE HERSELF feels indescribably ordinary, and even lost...) You end up loving her, wishing you could even just give her a hug... (That wouldn't be enough...) Not enough for HER either... (And it's not about the sex...) Anything but... Watching THIS, you become INVOLVED... (That's THEATRE...) xx SF

[@joanneburns325]

Brilliant!

[@rodd22]

"The Sermon was about Sex - I didn't actually nod off though I had herd it before" ......the best soliloquy ever - too funny xxxx

[@johnellis414]

Gosh! What an incredibly intelligent, sensitive and beautiful performance! An artist of the highest degree!❤❤❤

[@jon_co]

Brilliant performance.