Road - A Walk Along Dead End Street that's not for the Faint Hearted.

Justin Osborne as Scullery Graham Tyrer as The Professor. Photo by Chris J Clarke Photography.

Road by Jim Cartwright, Directed by Steve Farr, performed at The Bear Pit Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, Tuesday 24 September 2024 until Saturday 28 September.  

Review by Charles Essex.

Set in the 1980s, Road is a day in the Life of a sink estate.  There is no plot to speak of as our guide Scullery (Justin Osborne) introduces us to the inhabitants of this Dead End Street (that Kinks song would have been a good theme tune). Justin portrayed unambiguously an individual who was reconciled to his lot of poverty, brightened only by occasional sex but seemingly not disheartened by his own or his neighbours’ situation.

Paige Hopper and Bethan Sennett. Photo by Chris J Clarke Photography.

We meet a steady stream of people in dysfunctional families and often in conflict with their relatives and neighbours.  The tittering in the audience, perhaps from embarrassment, suggests that this audience, most of whom were probably from South Warwickshire, were far removed from the realities of people like this and their lives.

Ella Newberry as Clare, Noah Guest as Joey. Photo by Chris J Clarke Photography.

Most of the characters numbed their hopelessness and the bleakness of their lives with alcohol and casual sex.  But every so often, there was an aberration. Ben Keyser was wonderful as Skin Lad, was a martial arts fanatic but who found solace as a Buddhist. Satveer Pnaiser gave a moving monologue as a wife who had grown to detest her selfish oaf of a husband who drank their money away while she struggled to feed and clothe their children.

Graham Mason as Jerry conveyed pitifully a man who was lost in the modern world and could not comprehend why he was unemployed and that his work ethic and conscientiousness were not valued.

Bryan Darnley as Mr Bald. Photo by Chris J Clarke Photography.

Ben Keyser reappears as Eddie, who with his friend Brink (Ben Jeffrey) reveals an unexpected bromance as they dance to Otis Redding, gently choreographed which gave a welcome relief to the loss of dignity from unrelenting unemployment. Ben Jeffrey gave a heart-felt wretched confession of his self loathing. Whereas the older residents of the Road appeared to have accepted the inevitability of their fate, will the two Bens, together with two girlfriends, go down the same path?

Jacquie Campbell as Helen Ben Jeffery as Soldier. Photo by Chris J Clarke Photography.

This was an ambitious project and director Steve Farr, who did a superb job of marshalling a large cast, is to be praised for putting on this complex and challenging play and keeping the spotlight on these damaging social issues. Although reminiscent of punk poet John Cooper Clarke’s Beasley Street, to describe this play as a gritty northern drama (aren’t all northern dramas gritty?) would miss the point that poverty, hopelessness and lack of a voice are the underlying themes. Today, despite social media opportunities, people feel ignored and unheard, especially by the chattering classes who would never go anywhere near this Road.

Road at the Bear Pit Theatre until Saturday 28 September. Tickets from the Box Office 0333 666 3366 or visit: www.thebearpit.org.uk