The Lady in the Van

The Lady in the Van

by Alan Bennett

The Lady in the Van tells the story of Miss Mary Shepherd, whom Alan Bennett first came across when she was living in the street near his home in Camden Town. He agrees to let Miss Shepherd take refuge (with her van) in his garden for three months.

She stayed fifteen years.

The play explores themes of identity, media, class, discrimination, and the experience of being unhoused in 1970s and 1980s Britain.

“…The Lady in the Van combines the social problem of the intractable, possibly mentally disturbed homeless, and the way a writer will prey upon a situation – even an impossible one – and turn it into art. It is the tension between these two elements that is the power of the play.”

Michael Brindley
(March 2019, https://www.stagewhispers.com.au/reviews/lady-van)