Understanding Alan Bennett Book

Made some notes about this in 2006, when I read it.
The book is littered with swear words, and every so often he throws sex or atheism in your face, a bit like an adolescent with something to prove. However, his ability to incorporate Shakespeare into his story and show how the great man kept him sane and helped him become a real human being is good, and certainly makes you want to go back and read Shakespeare again…and again. And to memorise more of it. And to see the plays.
It makes you see too that Shakespeare invented the greatest characters in drama on a regular basis: not just the well-known ones, but all the others. Dromgoole claims that every character in Shakespeare lives and breathes - that might be a bit of an exaggeration when it comes to the tiny messengers and what have you - but it is true for the most part. And the other thing he says is that you need to take the plays as they are, the speeches, the characters. Don't try and analyse them; take them as they are and get deep into them. Let them be what they are - and the best way to do this is to memorise stuff - and then what's being said will come across clearly.