Rep Talk: In search of the Lady in the Van

Writer Alan Bennett makes himself comfortable on the set of The Lady in the Van in 2014. Photo / Getty Images

Over the weekend Repertory Theatre conducted auditions for our next major production, The Lady in the Van, which we intend to stage in August.

Of course, we must find our Miss Shepherd, the eccentric lady who lived in a van on Alan Bennett's property — for 15 years!

Naturally, we'll need to cast our Alan Bennett — actually we will need two Alan Bennetts because in this play the writer constantly talks to himself, the second Alan acting as his conscience as he debates whether or not his motivation for helping Miss Shepherd is entirely altruistic.

Perhaps he might use his experience in this strange friendship as material for his writing?

Along with these two main characters there are several other smaller roles. There's Alan Bennett's Yorkshire mother, Mam, who's having trouble remembering things, and Alan Bennett's neighbours Rufus and Pauline who're conservative and snooty.

As Alan explains in the introduction, the neighbours in the play are a composite of the neighbours who were there at the time, as is the social worker a composite of several who helped the lady in the Van.

Some of the smaller parts can be doubled up, ie, one actor can play two, or perhaps three parts as their time on stage is short. For example, there's a priest, a doctor, an undertaker, ambulance paramedics and Miss Shepherd's brother Leo who explains a lot of her earlier history.

It really is quite a story, full of humour and pathos and I'm so glad that we were able to welcome back some actors who haven't been treading the boards at Rep for a while. We will all enjoy this learning experience I'm sure.