The Lady in the Van

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I dislike rating plays because they are made to be watched, not read. So in reality the book of the play is probably a three star-it is interesting and funny, saddening, heartfelt, completely Bennettesque (of course) and the dialogue is just superb. But it can only really give you so much and there is very little description beyond the staging, which is fair enough, but not quite enough and the way Bennett writes it (I don't feel like I am worthy of calling him Alan) purposefully in that way means that it's mostly just a book full of dialogue. The Lady in The Van by Alan Bennett – one of the best contemporary writers, author of The Uncommon Reader http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/11/t... Miss S. never regarded herself as being at the bottom of the social heap. That place was occupied by ‘the desperate poor’ i.e those with no roof over their heads. She herself was ‘a cut above those in dire need’ and one of her responsibilities in society she saw as interceding for them and for those whose plight she thought Mrs Thatcher had overlooked. Could it be brought to her attention (and she wrote Mrs T. several letters on the subject) alleviation would surely follow. Bennett's 1994 postscript also provides some more information about Miss S. and her origins, a useful and revealing addition to the book.

You'll laugh aloud at some of the diary entries that form the basis for this short book. Generally Alan Bennett doesn't rise to the bait of humour in response, but I liked this unspoken offering: I read this pamphlet of a book two days before seeing the film... and gosh the film is so much better, partly because of the divine Maggie Smith but also because the film ain't the book! She is extremely trusting of people who have won her respect, never questioning directors. But the fact is that because she’s Dame Maggie Smith, there are some directors who won’t give her direction, intimidated by her status. 'I’m afraid that’s true,’ she says ruefully. 'But there is nothing I like more than being directed. There’s something very scary about being cast in something because they’ve seen you do that sort of part before. You’re left to your own devices, but there are a million ways of doing it and you have all these decisions to make.’Amid all the chaos of her life and now, I think, more or less incontinent she trips with fanatical precision through this liturgical minefield. Bennett discovered to his surprise she had studied piano in France, and was fluent in French. Also, from time to time, a mysterious man stops by her van who frightens her, and she gives him money. Ian Nathan (4 November 2015). "The Lady In The Van Review | Movie – Empire". gb: Empireonline.com . Retrieved 26 December 2016.

In The Lady in the Van Alan Bennett describes his very odd long-term relationship with "Miss Shepherd".This book was the unlikely topic of conversation with a friend after a few drinks. Slightly dejected, he recounted his guilt over his grandmothers death and wondered if he had done enough as she spiralled into eccentricity. What brought on this rather morose reminiscence I asked, and he mentioned that he had recently seen the movie "The Lady in the Van", and she reminded him a little of his slightly-batty granny. Sharon Feinstein (26 October 2014). "Downton dowager is happy on tramp's pay". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 17 March 2015 . Retrieved 26 December 2016. The Lady in the Van tells the mostly true story of Alan Bennett's somewhat strained friendship with Miss Mary Shepherd, an irritable, eccentric, homeless woman whom Bennett befriended in the 1970s, before letting her park her Bedford van in the driveway of his Camden home "for three months". She ended up residing there for 15 years. When Miss B. has gone Miss S. sits at the door of the van slowly turning over the contents of the box like a chimpanzee, sniffing them and holding them up and muttering to herself.