ALL are invited to audition for Weymouth Drama Club's new production The Lady in the Van.

They will be holding auditions at 7.45pm on Tuesday (17) at the Warehouse Theatre in Hope Street, Weymouth.

The auditions will be open to members and non-members.

There is a cast of 13 of all ages and large and small parts so something for everyone and everyone is invited to come along and have a go.

The Lady in the Van, written by Alan Bennett and recently turned into a movie starring Dame Maggie Smith tells the true story of Alan Bennet’s strained friendship with Miss Mary Shepherd, an eccentric homeless woman whom Bennett befriended in the 1970s before allowing her temporarily to park her van in the driveway of his Camden home. She stayed there for 15 years.

As the story develops Bennett learns that Miss Shepherd is really Margaret Fairchild, a former gifted pupil of the pianist Alfred Cortot. She had played Chopin in a promenade concert, tried to become a nun, was committed to an institution by her brother, escaped, had an accident when her van was hit by a motorcyclist for which she believed herself to blame, and thereafter lived in fear of arrest.

Roles include: the character of Miss Shepherd (around 65-years-old), Alan Bennett – author’s public persona, Alan Bennett 2 – his inner persona, Mam (Alan Bennett’s mother), Rufus (Alan Bennett’s neighbour, Pauline (Rufus’s wife), social worker (female) Underwood (a dilapidated figure) mam’s Doctor

Leo Fairchild and Miss Shepherd’s brother.

The play will be performed at Weymouth Pavilion from April 27 to 29.

The action takes play in Alan Bennett’s house and garden and the street outside between 1974 and 1989

For more information weymouthdramaclub.com Or call 01305 750050.