"At both Northern and Southern gates of my life is a deluded woman".

The Lady In The Van is much more than just Alan Bennett looking back at a particularly colourful individual who inhabited his life, and his garden, for more than 15 years.

It is the story of a man pulled in many directions - so much so he has to be played by two actors who together resemble a Gilbert And George in corduroy.

There is Sean McKenzie's Bennett who reluctantly interacts with the outside world, dealing with irritating neighbours; Sophie Robinson's brilliantly patronising social worker; his ailing mother and Nichola McAuliffe's titular anti-heroine Miss Shepherd.

At his shoulder is Bennett the writer, played by Paul Kemp, taking notes, gleefully rubbing his hands at possible tragedy, and twisting the facts to make a better story.

The play is packed with classic Bennett observations, from Miss Shepherd's refusal to listen to Radio 4’s Woman's Hour since it became "nothing but birth control", to his description of the smell of damp newspaper as the "essence of poverty".

But the true star is McAuliffe, who conveys a slowly ailing mad woman with the subtlest of touches.

From her incessant scratching to the dust flying off her ragged clothes, she makes the audience want to recoil, but also hang on her every sentence, even what she says is eventually refuted with the oft-repeated "possibly".

It's an acting tour-de-force in a beautifully staged piece - it's just a shame it's not in Brighton for longer.