The Lady in the Van

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a b Guy Lodge (12 September 2015). " 'The Lady in the Van' Review: A Light Vehicle for a Grand Maggie Smith". Variety . Retrieved 26 December 2016. Bennett wrote The Lady in the Van based on his experiences with the eccentric woman. Fairchild/Shepherd's story was first published in 1989 as an essay in the London Review of Books. In 1990 Bennett published it in book form. In 1999 he adapted it into a stage play at the Queen's Theatre in London which starred Maggie Smith who received a Best Actress nomination at the 2000 Olivier Awards [15] and which was directed by Nicholas Hytner. The stage play includes two characters named Alan Bennett. On 21 February 2009 it was broadcast as a radio play on BBC Radio 4, with Maggie Smith reprising her role [16] and Alan Bennett playing himself. He adapted the story again for the 2015 film The Lady in the Van with Maggie Smith reprising her role again, and Nicholas Hytner directing again. a b "The Lady in the Van". The Telegraph. Telegraph.co.uk. 25 April 2016 . Retrieved 26 December 2016. The principal cast of Bennett's 2006 film The History Boys appear in cameo roles, with the exception of that film's "teachers", de la Tour, who has a more prominent role in this film, and Richard Griffiths, who died in 2013. This includes the "temporary teacher" (Moore) and all the "students" from that earlier film: Samuel Barnett (as Donald), [10] Samuel Anderson (as a Jehovah's Witness), Stephen Campbell Moore (as a doctor), [11] Dominic Cooper (as a theatre actor), James Corden (as a street trader), [12] Sacha Dhawan (as Doctor Malik), [13] Andrew Knott (as an ambulance driver), Clive Merrison (as a man attending confession), [11] Jamie Parker (as an estate agent), [12] and Russell Tovey (as a man with an earring). I have a Goodreads shelf called British Charm, and one of my favorites from that group is Alan Bennett's The Uncommon Reader, a delightful novella about what would happen if the Queen of England suddenly became an avid reader. My affection for that book inspires me to seek out anything Mr. Bennett writes.

The Lady in the Van · LRB 26 October 1989 Alan Bennett · The Lady in the Van · LRB 26 October 1989

Evening Standard British Film Awards – the contenders". London Evening Standard. EveningStandard. 14 January 2016. standard.co.uk . Retrieved 14 January 2016.Fairchild's collection of self-penned political pamphlets, hand-written notes and shopping lists are in the Alan Bennett Archive at the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford. [14] The Lady in the Van [ edit ]

The Lady in the Van (Playscript) by Alan Bennett | Faber The Lady in the Van (Playscript) by Alan Bennett | Faber

Bennett's 1994 postscript also provides some more information about Miss S. and her origins, a useful and revealing addition to the book.

Since it was Friday afternoon or so, we had to wait for the weekend to end, so that we could get somebody to fix the car, and thus had to spend maybe two days, or two nights and nearly three days in the…Van, as in we could not afford to stay in a hotel (if there was one near) or to call ‘Assistance’, some service that would get you to a nonstop shop, and offer you a ride, and things, which would cost more than we had in the world, for this is the time when we emerged from the clutches of Ceausescu, into the Brave New World, a move I helped make, and you have the links and the bragging below 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. A gifted pianist, according to her brother, around 1932 the middle-class and well-spoken Margaret Fairchild studied at the École Normale de Musique de Paris in Paris under the virtuoso Alfred Cortot, and it has been said that she later played in a promenade concert; [3] [4] however, she does not appear in the BBC's online Proms performance archive. [5]

The Lady in the Van by Alan Bennett | Waterstones

Justin Kroll (3 June 2014). "TriStar Productions Teams With BBC Films on Maggie Smith's 'Lady in the Van' ". Variety . Retrieved 26 December 2016. Hassenger, Jesse (3 December 2015). "The Lady In The Van · Film Review Maggie Smith looks for a Philomena of her own with The Lady In The Van · Movie Review · The A.V. Club". The A.V. Club . Retrieved 26 December 2016. 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. 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." Jesse Hassenger, of The A.V. Club was critical, stating The Lady in the Van is flawed because the film is "supposed to be revealing Bennett, not Shepherd"; a fact that many "will be reminded of before the film’s end". Smith's character is very commanding on screen, while Jennings "honorably tend[s] to his character’s quiet, semi-closeted homosexuality". No "matter how many meaningful considerations of mortality" are thrown his way; through the screenplay, Jennings "doesn't have a chance" against Smith. [43] On the contrary, Slant Magazine 's Elise Nakhnikian said the film is all about the "fastidious, somewhat timid, and reclusive playwright Alan Bennett", and stated the film's "annoying glibness is neatly summarized" by the line: "In life, going downhill is an uphill job". [44] Accolades [ edit ] Year

British author, playwright, and actor Alan Bennett appeared in Beyond the Fringe and has written numerous highly acclaimed works. Whilst I’d previously read this as part of Bennett’s excellent collection ‘Writing Home’ (diaries etc, 1980-95) - I came across this individual edition and decided to revisit and reread. Eventually he allowed her to keep it in his own driveway, giving her sanctuary in his garden, as he describes it.

Lady in the Van - AbeBooks Lady in the Van - AbeBooks

De gestolen vrouw: het bijzondere leven van Lady Florence Baker, van haremmeisje tot ontdekkingsreizigster 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.

Miss Shepherd: It was holy water so it doesn't matter if it was distilled or not. The oil is another possibility. I described this play as bittersweet, because while the dialogue with Miss Shepherd is quirky and amusing, it is at heart a sad tale. It also underscores how as a society (pardon me for lumping together America and Great Britain, but clearly nobody has figured this out) we don't know what to do with crazy people, especially if they don't want to be institutionalized.