David Blakey

David was originally going to design The Lady in the Van. He was only asked to take over directing less than a week before auditions. So, as with The Playboy of the Western World (2015), which David also designed and then directed, he has had a long time to look at it as designer and very little time as director. With Festen last year, David had been thinking about the play for six years before an opportunity came to direct it, so he now seems to alternate between plays with a long lead time and plenty of time to work on them, and those that involve a short period of intense work, thought and planning. With a total change of tone and step away from realism, David will direct Noddy at TheatreWorks Birkenhead in 2019. He has been thinking about that for some months already.

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The Lady in the Van is an interesting play to approach as a director. Miss Shepherd may well be cantankerous and demanding, and may never say ‘thank you’ to anyone who helps her, but she must gain the sympathy of the audience. We have tried also to give her a winsomeness, and even an innocence, especially when she is recounting the stories of her schooldays. Her religious beliefs should not come across as too mad but should reflect her Catholic upbringing. I did not want to leave her to be mocked by atheist liberals, such as Alan Bennett and his neighbours, Rufus and Pauline, without also mocking them and their refined brand of socialism.

At the end, Alan Bennett says she has been around for 20 years of his life. He met her in the scene when he is looking at the convent, prior to 1969, and their relationship ended with her death in 1989. I have given the lighting team a lot of work to do in trying to convey this passage of time, but, more importantly, I have asked the cast to show the developing relationship between Alan Bennett and Miss Shepherd, which culminates in a scene together – without words – which we hope you will find deeply moving. As always, I have tried to bring my own vision of a play to the stage, and, as always, I am grateful to the cast, to the production team and the crew for their commitment, intelligence and imagination for seeing what I wanted to do and helping me achieve it.