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Lady in the Van, The

  • Alan Bennett
  • Full Length Play, Comedy, 1970s, 1980s
  • 9M, 5F
  • ISBN: 9780573112669

Alan Bennett draws from his memoirs to offer a dramatized account of the genteel vagrant, Miss Shepard, who parked her van in his driveway for fifteen years.

More information

Description

  • Full Length Play
  • Comedy

  • Time Period: 1970s, 1980s
  • Set Requirements: Unit Set/Multiple Settings
Alan Bennett draws from his memoirs to offer a dramatized account of the genteel vagrant, Miss Shepard, who parked her van in his driveway for fifteen years. Maggie Smith starred in London's West End.
REVIEWS:

"A wonderfully bittersweet comic diary of the years in which a lethally dotty and very smelly old bat parked her unroadworthy vehicle in Bennett's Camden garden, thereby providing him with roughly equal amounts of good journalistic copy and guilty landlord irritation."

Spectator

"Hilarious... A consistently enjoyable entertainment."

 The New York Times

"Without doubt, the best new play of the year."

 Daily Telegraph

"Bennett's writing is nimble, ironical, cruel and humane... Gives the West End one of its saddest, funniest, and most distinguished offerings for years."

 London Times

Premiere Production: The Lady in the Van was first presented at The Queen's Theatre, London, on 19th November, 1999.

Characters

  • Casting: 9M, 5F

  • MISS SHEPHERD - about 65
    ALAN BENNETT - the author's public persona
    ALAN BENNETT 2 - his inner persona
    MAM - Alan Bennet's mother, 60s
    RUFUS - Alan Bennet's neighbour
    PAULINE - Rufus's wife
    SOCIAL WORKER - female
    UNDERWOOD - a dilapidated figure
    MAM'S DOCTOR
    LEO FAIRCHILD - Miss Shepherd's brother
    LOUT
    AMBULANCE DRIVER
    MISS SHEPHERD'S DOCTOR
    INTERVIEWER
    PRIEST
    COUNCIL WORKMEN, UNDERTAKERS, etc.

    • Available Material

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    The Lady in the Van Script This is optional. Order Now

    Alan Bennett draws from his memoirs to offer a dramatized account of the genteel vagrant, Miss Shepard, who parked her van in his driveway for fifteen years. Maggie Smith starred in London's West End.

    "A wonderfully bittersweet comic diary of the years in which a lethally dotty and very smelly old bat parked her unroadworthy vehicle in Bennett's Camden garden, thereby providing him with roughly equal amounts of good journalistic copy and guilty landlord irritation." - Spectator

    "Hilarious...A consistently enjoyable entertainment." - The New York Times

    "Without doubt, the best new play of the year." - Daily Telegraph

    "Bennett's writing is nimble, ironical, cruel and humane...Gives the West End one of its saddest, funniest, and most distinguished offerings for years." - London Times

    		 $24.95

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