The Lady in the Van at The Rose Centre

Alan Bennett’s The Lady in the Van is a poignant, witty exploration of an unlikely real life relationship between the playwright and a dishevelled, eccentric homeless woman who lives in a dilapidated custard yellow van on his driveway for fifteen years.

Set in London’s Camden Town during the 1970s and 1980s, this play dramatises the true story of Miss Mary Shepherd, who stays far longer than the three months anyone could have anticipated.

A strong cast, directed by Sian Davis, brings this heart-warming and funny story to life on the Rose Centre's stage: Miss Shepherd played by Susan Hargraves, Alan Bennett played by Reg Williams, Alan Bennett 2 played by Scott Hayden, Mam/Leone Fairchild/Undertaker 1 played by Donna Franks, Rufus/Underwood/Undertaker 2 played by Mark Jensen, Pauline played by Ann-Marie (Anna) Jacobs, Social Worker/Council Worker 1/Ambulance Crew played by Emma Taylor, Mam’s doctor/Miss Shepherd’s Doctor/Interviewer/Council Worker 2 played by Heidi Bremner, Lout/Priest/Ambulance Driver/Man with Wheelbarrow played by Richard Jones

The original 1999 production earned Maggie Smith a Best Actress nomination at the 2000 Olivier Awards and was followed in 2015 by a well-known and much loved film.

A beautiful, funny and deeply moving play – The Telegraph

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 – The Spectator

Bennett’s writing is nimble, ironical, cruel and humane…Gives the West End one of its saddest, funniest and most distinguished offerings for years – The London Times