The Lady In The Van

This week, Councillor Peter and I went to Tynemouth Priory Theatre to see Alan Bennett’s The Lady in the Van. A semi-autobiographical play that blends comedy and pathos, and explores themes of compassion, class, eccentricity, and moral responsibility. It is based on Bennett’s real-life experience with Miss Mary Shepherd, an elderly and homeless woman who lived in her van on his driveway for fifteen years. In the piece, Bennett himself is self-deprecating and ambivalent. His politeness and restraint masking a deeper struggle with guilt and his own moral fatigue - a subtle commentary on middle-class liberalism and the limits of charity. The play captures the tension between private conscience and public indifference with the author’s usual characteristic wit and irony. It was originally published in 1989 in the London Evening Standard with its first stage performance in 1999 directed by Nicholas Hytner, starring Dame Maggie Smith in the leading role, then made into a film in 2015 with the same director and star.

The plot revolves around the uneasy co-existence between Bennett and Miss Shepherd. She parks her van temporarily on his property, but ends up staying for over a decade. It balances realism with fictional elements - most notably, Bennett’s use of two versions of himself on stage, identically dressed and wearing the iconic horn-rimmed spectacles:- ‘The writer’, subtly and comfortably portrayed by Glen Kingston and ‘The man’, superbly and realistically delivered by Jonny Woollett. This duality seemed to highlight the internal conflict between not only empathy and detachment, but also between observing and participating.

Ali Broughton beautifully characterised Miss Shepherd. She captured both her abrasive wit and her underlying vulnerability. Her eccentricities evoked humour (sometimes of the toilet type!), but her plight revealed social neglect and the quiet dignity of a life lived on the edge. She comes over as neither saint nor victim, but rather a stubborn, proud individual, odiously shaped by circumstance and struggle.

The van, a star in its own right, becomes a symbol of both confinement and resilience.

The three main characters are excellently supported by Julie Hope and Matt Aldridge as neighbours Pauline and Rufus, with a superb, earthily humorous cameo portrayal of Bennett’s Mam by Sylvia Cockerline, with Emma Jones playing the seemingly box-ticking, heartless Social Worker. Jon Mills, Beccy Gilmore and Keefe Browning play the additional ensemble parts very well indeed. Many congratulations to the whole cast.

Director Vicki Lockey describes the play in her programme notes as ‘… on the surface, a story about an unusual neighbour and a van parked in a Camden driveway’. In actuality, her notes are much more expansive and detailed, which they need to be, as this is an extremely complicated piece of work to direct, which she should be very proud of, deserving huge congratulations.

As usual, the technical team were tremendous: The set, designed by Vicki and Andy Gilmore, built by Andy and decorated by Glen, used the limited stage space to its best capability and, although simple in its appearance, was indicative of the various locations required by the Director. It was stage managed by Phil Emmerson and Thomas Gilmore extremely well, assisted by Nigel Anderson, Adam Swallwell, Oli Pages and Ivan Flores in the stage crew. Lighting design by James Elliot and Mathew Hall and sound by the multi-talented Andy complimented the action very well. Costumes by Judith Bell, Ann Leake, Jess Watson and Vicki were also superb and very apt for a difficult plot. The props team certainly had their hands full, but rose to the occasion; well done Fiona Jones, Laurence Hill, Lyndsey Spark and Trevor  Bell. Hugely important wigs were, once again, nicely styled and beautifully maintained by Chris Carr.

All in all, as could be witnessed by the reaction and loud applause of the packed audience after the final curtain, we were treated to a superbly acted, humorous, thought-provoking, emotive play, Congratulations to the whole TPT Team.

 Many thanks from me and Councillor Peter for the invitation. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit.

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