‘The Lady in the Van” is the story of a codependent London couple who politely loathe each other without actually being a pair. She is Miss Shepherd, a homeless gorgon with delusions of grandeur, and a long-term driveway squatter in several comedic ramshackle vehicles. He is English playwright Alan Bennett, a timid fellow who feels the impulse to strangle his caustic guest every time he offers her aid.
The reality-based comedy hands the roles to the peerless Maggie Smith and Alex Jennings, who make their 15-year run of neighborly aversion into an ongoing border war delivered in classic British understatement.
It’s a good enough story that Bennett has written it as a memoir, a stage play and a radio drama, with Smith in the title role. Her third run as the haughty eccentric is a matter of Olympic marksmanship, hitting the bull’s-eye with each scowl and droll line reading.
The pair meet in a rising London neighborhood in 1973, as the introverted playwright is beginning to climb the city’s creative totem pole. He offers the aged neighborhood icon a long-term parking space in front of his house. When she makes it a permanent arrangement, he is too polite to object. He’s also more than a bit lonely and feeling guilt pangs at ignoring his own failing mother’s increasing needs.