Lady in the Van at the Liverpool Playhouse: Review

Image by Karl C Andrew

Lady in the Van
Liverpool Playhouse - until 14th May

There has been something of a dispute at times between Alan Bennett and the city of Liverpool.

It was back in the 80s that Bennett accused Liverpudlians of being "big-headed" and "having the cockiness that comes from being told too often that they, and their city, are special".

Now it is time to bury the hatchet once-and-for-all. We can regard this play as a joyful gift to the city, that wipes away any thoughts of those niggles.

Perhaps we can even imagine that, observing the Scousers from afar, has rubbed-off on him since this supposedly retiring and self-effacing Yorkshireman, has acquired enough Scouse-like cockiness, to believe that he could write a book about the exploits of a smelly old lady and turn it into magnificent, thought-provoking entertainment.

"The Lady in the Van." is the (mainly) true story of Miss Shepherd, an eccentric vagrant, who entered Alan Bennett's life and rolled her clapped-out Bedford van into his front garden.

She was supposed to stay for only three months but ended-up living there for fifteen years.

In that period Mr B came to be regarded by social workers and neighbours - much to his supposed annoyance - as her "carer".

The Lady in the Van was a best-seller and one could hardly have imagined that the intense, mysterious and strangely tender story told in its pages, could be improve upon.

Wrong. No matter how much Miss Shepherd leapt from the pages of the book, in the stage production this breathtakingly-real depiction had the audience completely enthralled.

The smell that emanated from the van was effectively conveyed in the imagination, but even the "Susie Wong" is turned into a running in-joke, shared with the players and the audience alike in this Hull Truck Theatre Company.

Nichola McAuliffe as Miss Shepherd delivers a truly electrifying performance.

She completely commands the stage with Miss Shepherd's antics and conveys, so accurately, the fierce independence of the weird old lady and the strange pride she had in her 'home' - the fetted Bedford van with its 'sacred tyres... possibly!'

Two "Alans" compete for attention alongside her: the real Alan, timid, nice and truly human and the other Alan - the sniping cynic of his conscience and creative thought processes.

They are both there observing Miss Shepherd, one taking copious notes and the other desperate to help and please her and make her life a bit more comfortable.

The humour throughout is typical Bennett, always playing with words, questioning, reminding us that he is dealing with real people here.

His own conscience is troubled too, by the dilemma that, while he is here at home in London, looking after a stranger with mental illness, his own mother is up in Yorkshire, suffering from manic depression and badly in need of his help and support.

While looking after one, he is tormented by the fact that he is neglecting the other.

Throughout the play we are conscious of the two Alans vying for the control of reality and fiction and the hardship of trying to merge the two into his humorous and yet poignant story.

The visits from the social worker and the visits to the doctor are reality yet some of Alan's conversations with his alter ego, he admits, are fiction and never took place but were added for effect.

The set is dark and dismal and constantly makes the mood for each scene. The silent "star" of the show - despite Miss Shepherd's brooding figure - is definitely the Van itself!

It has been built bit by bit into an authentic vehicle, battered and worn, no doubt the registration number authentic to the one etched into Alan's mind as it greeted his eyes thousands of times during his ordeal.

The Van arrives on stage, belching smoke and revolves with the change of scenes to display the sides and the boot, which opens and closes on the debris of her life and the palpable Suzie Wong has the audience visibly wrinkling their noses throughout.

This is truly an excellent production, peppered with an abundance of laugh-out-loud moments.

It's at the Playhouse until 14th May and there is also a chance to see it again at The Lowry, Salford Quays from 16th - 21st May.

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