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Lady in the Van by Alan Bennett
(Director Pete Talman) with Jan Wyld as Miss Shepherd, John Billington-Beardsley as Alan Bennett and Stuart Glossop as Alan Bennett 2.
Alan Bennett’s superb comedy is based on a true event that was to take up almost two decades of his life, after he allowed the cantankerous, smelly Miss Shepherd and the battered van in which she lived to move into his Camden garden on a temporary basis. She remained there until her death some fifteen years later.
In telling the story we also learn much about the man himself, as he uses the novel device of portraying himself as two separate Alan Bennetts who argue, commiserate and generally explore his feelings not only about Miss Shepherd but also his own ailing mother and Thatcherism. It works a treat, especially in the very capable hands of Stuart Glossop and John Billington – the latter exactly catching Bennett’s slightly camp Yorkshire accent & slightly apologetic manner.
Jan Wyld simply is Miss Shepherd, capturing every nuance of her character’s eccentricity whilst allowing us to glimpse the vulnerability, fear and regret that it masks. She looks so wonderfully grimy and down-and-out too.
Pete Talman’s gloriously inventive direction shines through in every scene, and there are excellent supporting performances, not least from Sammy Boyle as Miss Shepherd’s Social Worker.
A brilliant production that well deserves its full houses.
—Linda Kirkman
