The Lady in the Van @ Darlington Civic

Any opportunity to go to Darlington's wonderful Civic Theatre and I'm there - call it local pride or just blinkered appreciation but I think that there are few venues that can compete with its intimacy, history and genuine warmth.

Wednesday night I took Mrs B out for a spot of culture; Alan Bennett's play The Lady in the Van.  One of my 'bucket list' activities, I can now say that I have seen an AB play on the stage and I was not disappointed.

A little about the story;

In The Lady in the Van Alan Bennett describes his very odd long-term relationship with "Miss Shepherd". Miss S. first came to the attention of Bennett in the late 1960s. She and her perpetually stalled van (or rather: a succession of such vans) could be found in his Camden Town neighbourhood, parked ever-closer to Bennett's home. Eventually he allowed her to keep it in his own driveway, giving her sanctuary in his garden, as he describes it. It remained there -- with Miss S. living first there and then in a lean-to at the side of his house -- until her death in 1989.

Bennett and Miss S. made for an odd couple. They were, in a sense, landlord and tenant, but other than some peace of mind (knowing Miss S. was "at least out of harm's way") Bennett didn't appear to benefit much from the arrangement. Miss S. wasn't the easiest person to deal with: "One was seldom able to do her a good turn without some thoughts of strangulation."

Miss S. wasn't quite right in the head, but she got on well enough. Amazingly, between the social state and the beneficence of some of the locals, she fared well and happily enough, puttering about in her own little world, selling self-written tracts and pencils, doing pretty much as she pleased.

In this stage production 2 actors brilliantly play Alan Bennett, on stage at the same time; one as his 'in-story character', interacting with Ms Shepherd and the neighbours and the other as his 'conscience - internal monologue often debating with his in-story character making for some hilarious wordplay.  Both actors have Bennett's soft Yorkshire twang, his self-depreciating delivery and his unique play on juxtapositioning the absurd with the day-to-day familiar so well.  The way in which Bennett's prose just rolls around the scene makes it completely unassuming, drawing in the audience into total belief whilst at the same time splitting your empathy; first to Bennett, then to Ms Shepherd and then back to Bennett again.

I won't go into the intricacies of the story too much, it's too good a play for me to ever do it justice in my humble review, but I would recommend anyone and everyone to go and see The Lady in the Van,