I found the real Lady in the Van intimidating

From time to time JEFFREY DAVIES looks back at some of his favourite interviewees - this week it's Sara Kestelman who he spoke to eight years ago when she was starring in The Lady In The Van in Bath

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WHEN a decrepit Bedford van grinds to a halt opposite Alan Bennett's house in Camden Town in 1974, little does he suspect that its next parking place will be his own garden, where its "evil-smelling" occupant is to remain for a further 15 years.

The genuinely eccentric Miss Shepherd used to drive ambulances in the war, has an unexplained aversion to piano music, may have been a nun, and is described by the playwright as "a bigoted, blinkered, cantankerous, devious, unforgiving, self-centred rank, rude, car-mad cow.

Forced to turn down his music to her complaints, recharge her van's flat battery and become her reluctant carer, Alan Bennett uses his vivid observations to create a heartwarming play full of great one-liners.

A drama that everyone can enjoy, I put to Sara Kestelman, who was appearing as Miss Shepherd in a new production of Alan Bennett's wonderfully funny and poignant drama The Lady in the Van at the Theatre Royal Bath in August 2017...

"Absolutely yes. It's a great favourite with audiences," the most delightful actress agreed during a break in rehearsals.

So what was it about The Lady in the Van and, indeed, Miss Shepherd that appealed to the London-born thespian?

"My original interest in it, when it first came out 18 years ago, was that I actually lived in Gloucester Crescent, Camden Town, where Alan Bennett lived and where Miss Shepherd famously parked her van. And so I observed her pretty much on a daily basis from my flat which was at the top of a house on the same side of the road. And, yes, I have a very vivid picture of her still," Sara Kestelman told me.