Waiting for Alan (1984)

Overview

WAITING FOR ALAN is about a woman whose marriage is dead. Trapped in the rich but sterile environment of a lavishly appointed country house, MARCIA is a microcosm of society – a victim of, and partner in, someone else's routine. It’s not the housework or the cooking (MRS BETTS looks after those), but the daily monotony of waiting for ALAN – her newspaper-reading, TV watching husband. To him, she's just the emotional central heating switched on and off in return for paying the bills and expected to operate as smoothly and regularly as the washing-up machine or the gardener. But MARCIA has waited long enough… WAITING FOR ALAN is a humorous but critical 'tale of the unexpected' (and expected) in classical, three-movement sonata form. It was screened at least twice on Channel Four television in the late eighties and both times received a very positive audience response as well as praise from weekly pre-viewers in the newspapers