News, events and schools' information for families across Bath and West Wiltshire

Competition time! Here’s your chance to win two tickets to watch The Lady in the Van at the Theatre Royal Bath on Thursday 24th August, 7.30pm performance!

All you have to do to have a chance of winning is send an email marked ‘Lady in the Van’ to email hidden; JavaScript is required, containing your name, address and telephone number, to reach us by 15 August 2017.

This brand new production of Alan Bennett’s wonderfully funny and poignant drama The Lady in the Van is set to open in Bath as part of the 2017 Summer Season appearing from Thursday 17th August to Saturday 2nd September. Award-winning Sara Kestelman stars as one of drama’s most extraordinary characters as she plays the eccentric Miss Shepherd, directed by Jonathan Church CBE.

When a decrepit Bedford van grinds to a halt opposite Alan Bennett’s house in Camden Town in 1974, little does the writer 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 author as “a bigoted, blinkered, cantankerous, devious, unforgiving, self-centred, rank, rude, car-mad cow”.

This witty and uplifting comedy tells the intriguing true story of Alan Bennett’s unusual neighbour. Forced to turn down his music to her complaints, recharge her van’s flat battery and become her reluctant carer, Bennett uses his vivid observations to create a heart-warming play full of great one-liners.

Tickets are available from the Theatre Royal Bath Box Office on 01225 448844 and online at www.theatreroyal.org.uk