Post by Dr Tom on Sept 28, 2019 14:14:08 GMT
There are many fascinating stories to be told about the history of the railways in Britain. A form of transport that so many people are dependent on every day.
The Permanent Way is on at the Vaults, in a converted tunnel under Waterloo. The sounds of trains fittingly drift in. It's a play compiled by David Hare that covers the period after railway privatisation. The play is new to me, but previously ran at the National Theatre.
The staging is simple. Seating on four sides (tiered) of a long thin performance area, with just four benches which are moved at various times. The diverse cast play multiple characters, for a play that runs straight through for 1 hour 40 minutes.
I saw this last night with a discounted ticket. Seating is unallocated, but this ended up about two thirds full. I got a seat on a front row, which isn't considered a premium row, possibly because the view is better further back. The front row requires a lot of neck craning from side to side. I recommend sitting near the front as there's no amplification and because there are people sat on four sides, often the actors will be facing away from you.
Earlier, I credited David Hare for "compiling" this play. By saying that, I mean the words came from interviews with real people, mostly conducted by David Hare. In some occasions, the cast speak to "David" (or whoever is sat near to them in the front row). Some of the same characters are considered over a long time period, so you can watch the story of the period unfold.
This is nominally a play about privatisation, but mostly it boils down to the four railway disasters that followed privatisation and all the people caught up in that story. These stories are still as tragic as they were at the time and some lines comes across now as being even more poignant. There's also unintentional humour. This really isn't a funny play and it shouldn't be, but an executive being rewarded by failing at Railtrack with a position chairing at Woolworths come across very differently now to how it would have done in 2003 and 2004.
The cast pull everything off well in the tight space, making sure that no punches are pulled in the way that recognisable figures like John Prescott and Richard Branson are presented.
As someone who spends much of my life on trains, I can't help but have my own reflections, which I'm sure is one of the intentions of the piece. The whole railway set-up post privatisation was horribly mismanaged. The railway system now is far from perfect, but it is much better than it was then. As one character remarked, the walk to get on a train is the most dangerous part of the journey. Another character commented that they thought they were being interviewed for a book, not a play. There are many books to be written (and read) about this period, but seeing this fascinating story come to life with real words and accomplished actors is something else entirely.
As a play, this one is a hard watch, but it is a rewarding one.
The Permanent Way is on at the Vaults, in a converted tunnel under Waterloo. The sounds of trains fittingly drift in. It's a play compiled by David Hare that covers the period after railway privatisation. The play is new to me, but previously ran at the National Theatre.
The staging is simple. Seating on four sides (tiered) of a long thin performance area, with just four benches which are moved at various times. The diverse cast play multiple characters, for a play that runs straight through for 1 hour 40 minutes.
I saw this last night with a discounted ticket. Seating is unallocated, but this ended up about two thirds full. I got a seat on a front row, which isn't considered a premium row, possibly because the view is better further back. The front row requires a lot of neck craning from side to side. I recommend sitting near the front as there's no amplification and because there are people sat on four sides, often the actors will be facing away from you.
Earlier, I credited David Hare for "compiling" this play. By saying that, I mean the words came from interviews with real people, mostly conducted by David Hare. In some occasions, the cast speak to "David" (or whoever is sat near to them in the front row). Some of the same characters are considered over a long time period, so you can watch the story of the period unfold.
This is nominally a play about privatisation, but mostly it boils down to the four railway disasters that followed privatisation and all the people caught up in that story. These stories are still as tragic as they were at the time and some lines comes across now as being even more poignant. There's also unintentional humour. This really isn't a funny play and it shouldn't be, but an executive being rewarded by failing at Railtrack with a position chairing at Woolworths come across very differently now to how it would have done in 2003 and 2004.
The cast pull everything off well in the tight space, making sure that no punches are pulled in the way that recognisable figures like John Prescott and Richard Branson are presented.
As someone who spends much of my life on trains, I can't help but have my own reflections, which I'm sure is one of the intentions of the piece. The whole railway set-up post privatisation was horribly mismanaged. The railway system now is far from perfect, but it is much better than it was then. As one character remarked, the walk to get on a train is the most dangerous part of the journey. Another character commented that they thought they were being interviewed for a book, not a play. There are many books to be written (and read) about this period, but seeing this fascinating story come to life with real words and accomplished actors is something else entirely.
As a play, this one is a hard watch, but it is a rewarding one.
