It sounds like something that could have come out of Alan Bennett’s brain, but The Lady In The Van is actually a true story that just also happens to feature the comedy writer and keen observer of the human condition. Following a stage play script, book and radio drama, the yarn has now been turned into a film, with the first trailer arriving today and refusing the leave the web’s driveway.
The Lady In The Van finds Alex Jennings taking on the role of Bennett, whose neighbours in a well-to-do Camden street are dismayed when a scruffy van shows up parked among the clean cars and well-kept houses. The occupant, a well-spoken but filthy woman named Miss Shepherd (Maggie Smith in the film, reprising her role from the radio version) refuses to move on despite protests.
Bennett, sensing that there’s more to her story – though initially unwilling to engage – eventually befriends her and offers her the use of his driveway for a short while until she can get sort herself out and move on. Fifteen years later, she was still there...
Written by Bennett and directed by his regular theatre collaborator Nicholas Hytner, The Lady In The Van also features the likes of Frances de la Tour, James Cordon, Roger Allam, Jim Broadbent and Dominic Cooper. It’ll show up in our cinemas on November 13.