Elise Hawthorne
Getting to the heart of a person takes insight and wisdom, morphing into someone else entirely in front of a packed theatre night after night takes guts and incredible talent. The remarkable Miriam Margolyes transforms herself body and soul into Miss Mary Shepherd (aka Margaret Fairchild) in Alan Bennett’s mostly true story The Lady In the Van.
This tale tells the story of Bennett’s complicated relationship with Miss Mary, who camped out in a van in his front garden in suburban London for fifteen years – yes fifteen! Miss Mary was a stranger who Bennett let live on his property just because she had nowhere else to go. Her life story unfolds before the audience; it’s a very touching account of an unlikely friendship.
Morphing into a slightly deranged, cantankerous, eccentric, at times annoying elderly bag lady would be no easy task yet Margolyes gets the job done. Mary is real; she’s standing before the audience filthy and unkempt in her old coat and urine stained nightie, tossing barbs back and forth with Bennett and anyone else she comes across in her daily effort to survive in a world that doesn’t usually accommodate fiercely independent eccentrics such as herself.
Miss Mary’s life trajectory brought her to Bennett’s garden via a nunnery and nervous breakdown, and as we learn later in the play, she is running from the law as it turns out. Bennett himself is played or indeed inhabited by two wonderful actors, Daniel Frederiksen as Alan Bennett 1 and James Millar as Bennett 2. Both bring love and humour to their roles, becoming a perfect foil for Margolyes /Miss Mary. Jillian Murray as Bennett’s mother (mam) gives the audience a real sense of her story, which runs parallel to Miss Mary’s. The Lady in the Van explores the universal themes of courage, prejudice, survival, love and death. I for one fell in love with Miss Mary and felt that I had been lucky to have met her via the magnificent Miriam Margolyes.
The Lady in the Van by Alan Bennett
Melbourne Theatre Company Now – 9 March, 2019
Arts Centre Melbourne, Playhouse
Photo credit Melbourne Theatre Company
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