By Peter Kemp
Based on a real incident in Bennett’s life when an old crabby, eccentric, homeless woman, Miss Mary Shepperd was given permission by Bennett to park her van in his driveway for three months. Those three months extended into 15 years.
Alan Bennett was played by two characters, one, his real self and two, his writing self. The real Alan Bennett was played by John Latham who gave a great interpretation of the man who was sympathetic to Miss Shepperd but did have a few moments of frustration.
Alan Bennett the writer was played by Michael Jewell also giving a great interpretation of the character. Each Bennett was identically dressed and talked to each other as if Bennett was talking to himself. Both capturing the character of a real life writer getting ideas from the presence of Miss Shepperd.
Rosy Cullinan was Miss Mary Shepperd. A strong, wonderful, and excellent portrayal of the lady in the van. Cullinan captured the essence of the character, and the audience was relieved that the stage play wasn’t authentic enough to give out smells as apparently in real life Miss Shepperd, to put it mildly, stank.
Peter Burke played three roles, as Rufus, the neighbour across the road, a lout and an ambulance driver. Burke handled each role with realism, capturing the feel of each character.
Chelsea Rabl played the wife of Rufus and the social worker. A contrasting of characters well handled by Rabl. Each character was very different both in speech and presentation which Rabl portrayed with professionalism.
Reg Ellery was Underwood, Doctor and Les Fairchild, Miss Shepperd’s brother.
Ellery really took on each role comfortably presenting well and handled each personality very well.
A good set, a floor to wall map of Camden Town, on the audience right was a desk, piles of books representing Alan Bennett’s workplace. The wall map has a double door that opened to see the interior of Miss Shepperd’s van. And what a mess, also the front of the stage was decorated with a garbage can, plastic bags and ivy plants.
The two companies presented a wonderful play which is primarily based on a real happening and the audience were highly entertained.
The Basin Theatre also has considered local artists, the company has used the foyer space for artists in the area to show their works. This adds to the enjoyment of visiting the theatre as while having a drink and a bite to eat one can view the local works of the artists in the area. The paintings are for sale with a percentage going to the theatre.
