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The Lady in the VanBy Alan Bennett Alan Bennett first became aware of Miss Shepherd, the lady in the van, in the late sixties, and she died in 1989, after spending almost two decades living in her broken-down Bedford van on his driveway. She could most kindly be called an eccentric - and she smelled. She heard voices, and the Virgin Mary appeared to her on a regular basis. The play is the story - a very slim one, really - of this time and the relationship which developed between Bennett and Miss Shepherd, from first meeting to her death. In fact, it's not really a story, just a series of incidents, all of which Bennett assures us are true in essence if not in every detail. As he says, for the purposes of the drama, some telescoping of events and compositing of characters was essential. Over the years, he tells us for instance, a series of social workers dealt with Miss Shepherd's "case", but he aggregates them all into one. The form Bennett has chosen to adopt gives us three main characters: Miss Bennett herself (Maggie Smith), the younger Bennett (Nicholas Farrell) who is the participant in Miss Shepherd's story, and the older (Kevin McNally) who is looking back and telling the story. But the two Bennetts are not in separate time frames: they interact and talk to each other, disagreeing, co-operating, arguing and telling the story. At one point the younger complains "That didn't happen", to which the older replies that it makes a better story! Anyone going to this play expecting another of the Talking Heads series is in for a surprise, for the tone is quite different. There are frequent mentions of Miss Shepherd being another of his "old ladies" but he denies it vehemently, and he is right to do so, for the relationship with Miss Shepherd which the play explores is much deeper, much more complex than anything we find in the one-woman (although that should be "one person", for A Chip in the Sugar has as its protaonist a man) plays. And one could never imagine Thora Hird as Miss Shepherd! And Ladyis less limited than the Talking Heads plays, less bound by the central character's world. There are resonances of the outside world: hints of Thatcherism, comments on feminism. It is a very funny play, but, like the best comedy, with undertomnes of seriousness. Even the final scene, in which the van, with Miss Shepherd in it, rises up into the flies as if ascending into heaven, goes beyond a visual joke and ties up with Miss Shepherd's claimed personal acquaintance with the BVM and quite a number of saints. The two Bennetts, Farrell and McNally, are utterly convincing, with the authentic Bennett voice and intonation. They (McNally in particular) even look like him! But, good as they are, it is Maggie Smith who steals the acting honours. Standing outside at the interval (to get my fix of the noxious weed), I overheard one lady saying to another, "She acts with every muscle", and this is so true. Her performance is an object lesson in acting - and it is quite clear that she relishes the part. Like Alec Guinness -and I can think of no greater compliment to an actor than this - she totally submerges herself in the part. She is Miss Shepherd. The play has just over a month to run. If you haven't seen it yet and you get the chance to do so, don't miss it. Lady in the Van will close on 15th July.
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