The Lady in the Van:

Well, I’ve never failed to see a production from the Llanelli Little Theatre company that hasn’t left me thinking that these guys should be on the stage in the West End of London.

I’ve heard a rumour that they are about to pull another gem of a show out of the bag, performing the classic Alan Bennett play “The Lady in the Van” at the Ffwrnes Theatre, Llanelli on Thursday and Friday 24th and 25th November.

The play, which opened at the Queen’s Theatre, London in December 1999, starred Maggie Smith. In 2015, the play was turned into a film with Maggie Smith, Alex Jennings, Frances De La Tour and Jim Broadbent in the cast.

In 1974, Alan Bennett encountered Miss Mary Shepherd, an elderly eccentric living in a van in the street near his home in Camden Town.

He eventually allowed her to park her van in his garden, the idea being that she would stay three months – but those three months extended to 15 years and thus provided Alan Bennett with a funny and moving dramatisation of his memoir of Miss Shepherd. Tickets are available from the box office. See you there!