Theatre review: The Lady in the Van Queen's Theatre, London

Alan Bennett's frequently hilarious autobiographical play stars Maggie Smith as the homeless old tramp who lived in a van in the playwright's driveway for 15 years. This combative, ungrateful, car-mad religious maniac, with delusions of being at the centre of some conspiracy, is played here in a performance of quite brilliant formidability and pathos. The play is studded with great comic lines, but I was never reconciled to the brightly coloured pop-up book feel of Nicholas Hytner's production.

PT