Bennett turns the tables on himself

The Lady in the Van, Lowry, Salford
IN theory, Alan Bennett’s play is about the old lady who genuinely took up residence in her old Bedford in his garden.

But it is really about the uneasiness of Alan Bennett.

And not just in the writer’s attitude to the woman: he didn’t want her around but didn’t want her to go either. He respected her personality and life while simultaneously writing down notes for the play he would inevitably one day write about her.

Nothing like finding your muse on your doorstep, even if she does stink, talks to God and the saints and has rather unsavoury toilet habits.

The playwright is so concerned about this two-faced approach to Miss Shepherd that he writes himself into his own work twice: once as the practical, helpful owner of the house and befriender of strays; once as a more businesslike writer keen to jot down snippets and to bend the truth to suit the play, rather than the other way round.

It’s an interesting idea but ultimately, even with Bennett played as accurately and warmly as here (by Paul Kemp and James Holmes), it’s little more than a device, turning what would be lots of monologue or internal thought into dialogue.

The object of all this chat is Miss Shepherd, played with remarkable grace and spirit by Nichola McAuliffe, appearing with Hull Truck Theatre Company for the first time.

Shepherd talks to unseen characters, reveals only snippets about herself and her life story and brings not one but two disgusting old vans into Bennett’s garden but, in McAuliffe’s performance, has something about her that attracts the soul of the writer.

Sarah Esdaile’s production is sensitive and leisurely — perhaps a little too leisurely at times, as if it is quite clear Bennett’s work is profound in many ways (especially as he runs a parallel story about leaving his own mother to a nursing home), but not in terms of action or plot. It is merely a series of episodes in a long-term, fleeting relationship.

Regardless of these minor qualms, the work has Bennett’s usual streak of wry comedy and offers a lot of soul searching about relationships.

Plus, you don’t see a Bedford van hauled up into the flies of the stage very often...