The Lady In The Van, Stamford Shakespeare Company

Poignant and hilarious in equal measure - get your tickets to The Lady in the Van, part of the Stamford Shakespeare Company's summer theatre season.

One of Europe's finest theatre venues, Tolethorpe Hall is home to the Rutland Open Air Theatre where the resident Stamford Shakespeare Company present an annual season of plays across June, July and August.

The Lady in the Van is based on the mostly true story of playwright Alan Bennett’s encounters with Miss Mary Shepherd, a crabby, eccentric, homeless woman whom he befriended in the 1970s. Bennett kindly told Miss Shepherd she could park her Bedford van in the driveway of his Camden home “for three months”. She ended up staying 15 years.

Wonderfully bittersweet, this play was a smash hit for Maggie Smith on both stage and screen.