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Road
By Jim Cartwright
Little Theatre
Wigan
Review by Chelsea Foster
7th April 2016
What will Lancastrians make of Jim Cartwright’s state-of-the-nation play Road
twenty-six years on from Thatcher’s iconic reign and one year into the
Conservative’s full re-election?
Cartwright and his charming Northern English realism is displayed throughout Road
which is set during the 1980’s hard-hitting recession and explores the lives of the
working class during a period of poverty and class division, living on an un-named
road as they struggle to go about their lives with unemployment nearing three million
and with discontent and desperation rife. Although written in 1986, Road is as ever
relevant today as society brushes itself off following the recent, crippling double-dip
recession. Even the eighties culture is making a comeback with bands such as
Madness and Spandau Ballet reforming and a revival of the (horrific) double denim
trend.

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Director Frank Gallagher welcomes Road’s return by setting the play in the heart of
Wigan’s Little Theatre. When entering, one finds themselves already on stage,
coming face-to-face with a large cracked sign, an overflowing rubbish bin, a bed and
large metal scaffolding. Critic Frank Rich, in a review for the New York Times in
1998, believed the props to be ‘clutter’ and ‘a shade too artfully arranged’. However,
to disagree with Rich, upon the play starting it is clear that director Gallagher has
worked hard to make the overall aesthetics as naturalistic as possible so that
audience members can walk around and approach the various scenes as they
happen. Seats are still available, but having an open stage furthers the dramatic
dimensions and gives audiences a more intimate, engaging appeal than it would with
a conventional proscenium stage, allowing audiences to walk around and be
transported back to 1980’s Thatcher Britain.
Martin Griffin kicks of the play by narrating the vagrant Scullery, swigging from a
bottle and playing the drunk character hilariously, taking the audience on a journey
by introducing them to the various characters all trying to escape their existence on
this dilapidated, un-named street. Road’s structure includes a series of vignettes
intermingled with various monologues, an almost stream of consciousness quality
that is helped along by Scullery who, not only narrates scenes but is part of it. This
technique is similar to Brecht’s distancing technique but unlike Brecht, Cartwright
allows Scullery to introduce the characters, conduct social and political commentary
yet still be in character and immersed as part of the action.
But first, there’s a party to go to. The play takes place over the course of an evening
as each resident on the road prepare for an average night. “Why do you never go
out?” “I can’t afford it.” and “Why do you never stay in?” “I can’t stand it.” are phrases
audience members who grew up in the eighties can all recall and what twenty-

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somethings today can still relate to. In 1986, the year Road was first produced, was
also the year in which the Pet Shop Boys reached number one with ‘West End Girl’,
a song that’s first line reads ‘Sometimes you’re better off dead’ which pretty much
sums up the attitude of the whole play as "Thatcher the milk snatcher" was in charge
and there was a resounding sense of nihilism. But it’s not all doom and gloom as the
cast of 20 find the perfect balance between comedic and tragic.
For those with tendency to lapse in attention, this play may prove difficult. As, within
the blink of an eye, scenes and characters change as the play follows a short and
fast paced episodic structure which might leave one feeling a tad left behind. Hayley
Howard’s multi-rolling in particular, was extremely effective throughout the play. A
new face within theatre, Howard takes us on an emotional journey with her
challenging monologues as we continue down the long road. Starting with miserable,
alcoholic mother Sophie, who sits and pesters her daughter for money so she can go
down to the pub “Well give it me”. Followed by a scantily clad Carol and her friend
Louise, played by Sarah King, also preparing for a night of drinking. The theme
continues with both Dor and Lane who also drink themselves into bed with various
men for fun-or because there’s nothing better to do. Characters within the play not
only drink to socialise but they drink to forget their problems, their non-existent
futures. Making the opening song of ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’ become more
understandable as we see characters wishing to wake up one day with the clouds far
behind them.
Forcier suggests that socio-environmental and stress-based theories of alcoholism
propose that alcohol abuse and addiction develop as coping reactions to stressful
socio-environmental conditions such as unemployment and almost every person
during the play is drunk- and it’s no wonder. With the North’s employment falling

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1,357,000 between 1979 and 1987 people were likely to be glum. One of the most
overt themes within the play, escapism, comes from Joey’s monologue: “I’m sick of
it” he just wants to escape the “hell hole” that he is living in, which audience
members of all ages can relate to. As a society we have a complete lack of faith in
our government and their ability to make society a better place when they do things
such as cut disability benefits and spend fifty-three thousand a year on their wives
fashion advisers. “What’s the point?” is the question on every character’s minds
during the play and on our own minds now and the best solution is simply “getting
ready to go out for a pint.” For many, escapism is retreating to alcohol and sex to
numb themselves from boredom and despair. Or starvation in Joey’s case, who Neil
Mathias plays brilliantly, delving into the mental state of a character on an ongoing
hunger strike who is searching for a “sign”… of which he doesn’t know. Later, Joey’s
teenage girlfriend Claire, after numerous attempts to feed him, join him in his
pointless strike in a funny yet twisted, romantic delusion. Cartwright’s ability to inject
humour into the most tragic scenes proves him as a playwright who challenges the
boundaries of from and genre.
“Now stop it. Cheer up and go and boost the success and you’re much more likely to
get jobs that way,” is an infamous quote from Thatcher and is symbolic of her
economic legacy in the North. The quote is in response to the uproar resulting from
her dismantling of state assistance and driving up the exchange rate which lead to
mass industrial closures and therefore thousands of job losses. Particularly in the
North who were heavily reliant on industrial industries, creating the North-South
divide. Residents of the road have no jobs and no money “I can’t buy my favourite
shampoo!” and the fact that Louise can’t even afford food, proves just how much
they are struggling. They have to borrow or in Scullery’s case steal in order to get by.

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The prime minister took away dignity, a sense of identity, hope and opportunity from
the North and this is certainly the message that is put across in the play- as critic
Rich remarks ‘One can almost hear Mrs. Thatcher having the last laugh.’ Even now,
despite being technically out of recession, recovery remains far from secure as
Lancashire face losing libraries, museums and thousands of jobs, along with Wales
who were also hit hard by Thatcher’s cuts in the eighties, are again facing mass
redundancy now with Port Talbot steelworks set to close, proving the play just as
relevant to society now.
Then, boom. David Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’ hits your ears and all of a sudden the
audience is transported to an intermission ''pub'' performance which is lively and
energetic, making full use of the cast. Director Gallagher has stuck by the same
aesthetics as Cartwright which is down to the fact that the play needs no change to
still be relevant and still touch audiences the same way it did almost thirty years ago.
However, Gallagher adds one important and very moving scene which is especially
emotive with the Lancashire community. At a time when The Guardian called it ‘the
most savage redundancy programme to be inflicted on British industry'. The
Lancashire Women against Pit Closures joined as part of the Women against Pit
Closures movement in which the women stimulated mass support, challenged the
feminist movement that had been dominated by the middle class, came with a
backlash of intimidation and hardship but had the most profound impact on the lives
of women and the community. Within the scene we see a miner’s wife, Vicky, played
by Howard again, coming home with the rest of the girls from another day picketing,
sitting down, putting on the radio and hearing about the end of the strike. Rich’s 1998
review describes the characters as ‘unmoving’ and that the events ‘often seem as
synthetic as the setting’. However, a prevailing feature of Cartwrights Road is his

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commitment to conveying the lives of the downgraded and disenfranchised through a
combination of poetry and colloquial gutter language. This is shown in various
scenes such as the despairing wife Valerie, played by Lauren Guthrie, (although her
accent wears off after five minutes) she rants: “What a life. I get up, feed every baby
in the house, and do everything else I can without cash” while waiting for her
unemployed husband to come home drunk with his ”fat hard hands in bed at night”
she hates him but “It’s not his fault there’s no work.” so she just has to grit her teeth
and carry on.
But it is Curt’s speech, played by Robert Rodgers, which especially highlights what
everybody in the community thinks about the road they live on “God it stinks this
road. Staleness, rot, stink, sex, drink, blood. There’s always been something wrong
down here.” The effect of this combination of language side-steps any cultural
stereotyping, allowing actors to absorb further into their characters identities, moving
the audience on a higher level and creating an overall community atmosphere. “The
town like the sign has been broken for years.” is a simile used by Scullery which
reflects another theme in the play: disintegration. “Everything’s soiled you know, our
house me mum, the bath”. Everything is literally falling apart in this play due to
poverty but the characters can only joke “Where’s finery? Fucked off!”
Otis Reading’s ‘Try a Little Tenderness’ plays in what critic Clarke states is ‘longest
scene of the play’ in which Eddie, Carol, Louise and Bink drink themselves giddy and
purge themselves of emotions “I have never spoke such a speech in my life and I’m
glad I have’. The character’s in the play realise the hand they’ve been dealt life
“somehow a somehow might escape.” They know that, for now, they just have to
endure it and try to have a good time along the way. Which is what we’re all doing
really, isn’t it? The economic depression and low morale felt within Road still

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resonates with our lives today. Clarke agrees, stating that the play still ‘strikes a
chord’. The play ends a desperate chant from the whole cast, a blacked out stage
and a round of applause, an applause to nothing. The real tragedy of the play is
summed up perfectly by Clarke in that ‘Road, and thousands like it, still exist’.
First I was taken back to the eighties by the amazing soundtrack, crimped hair and
bad attitude. Next, I laughed at the witty dialogue and humour presented directly to
me with the breaking of the fourth wall. But then I experienced the reality of the
hopelessness and desperation felt by people during Thatcher’s reign. Leaving the
theatre I thought I would be glad as the play went on a little too long, but instead I
was filled with a questioning of our current Conservative rule in our society now and
a strange sense of hope that things will get better; life moves on.
If intimate local theatre is what you're looking for, look no further than this.
Road continues in Wigan’s Little Theatre until 22nd September 2016.

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Works Cited
Cartwright, J. (2003) Road. Methuen Drama; Revised edition. P.7.
Fieldhouse, A. (1995). Thatcherism and the Changing Geography of Political
Attitudes, 1964-87. Political Geography Vol. 14 No. 1, 3-30.
Forcier, W. (1988) Unemployment and alcohol abuse: a review. J Occup Med.
Rich, F. (1988). The New York Times. Available:
http://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/29/theater/review-theater-a-road-to-lives-that-go-
nowhere.html. Last accessed 13/04/2016.
Cartwright, J. (2003) Road. Methuen Drama; Revised edition. p.34, p.38
Johnston, R and Allsop, G. (1988). A Nation Dividing. London: Longman.
Khan, N. (2003). Thatcher's children: growing up in 1980s Britain. Available:
http://www.channel4.com/news/thatchers-children-growing-up-in-1980s-britain. Last
accessed 13/04/2016
Lewis, J and Townsend, R. (1989) – The North-South Divide: Regional Change in
Britain in the 1980s. London.
Cartwright, J. (2003) Road. Methuen Drama; Revised edition. P.50, p.52
Valley, P. (2009). The emotional cost of recession. Available:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/hard-times-2009-
part-5-the-emotional-cost-of-recession-1715878.html. Last accessed 13/04/2016.
Monaghan, J. (2009). UK recession in 1980: What was it like?. Available:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/recession/4323064/UK-recession-in-1980-What-
was-it-like.html. Last accessed 13/04/2016.
Neil, M. (2001). Thatchers Britain in the 80s. Available: http://www.information-
britain.co.uk/historydetails/article/41/. Last accessed 13/04/2016.
Frow, R. (2011). Lancashire Women against Pit Closures. Available:
http://www.wcml.org.uk/our-collections/protest-politics-and-campaigning-for-
change/lancashire-women-against-pit-closures/. Last accessed 14/04/2016.
Cartwright, J. (2003) Road. Methuen Drama; Revised edition. P.78, 80.
Schifferes, S. (2009). A tale of three recessions. Available:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8127248.stm. Last accessed 13/04/2016.
Clarke, R. (2010). Hard trip down a dead end street. Available:
http://www.behindthearras.com/reviewsam/reviewsAMaprjun2012/Road_S204-
12.html. Last accessed 13/04/2016.

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