The Royal Court’s revival of John Cartwright’s, Road - an Under Milk Wood-esque, somnambulant, and seminal play from the late 1980s is dark and timely. Though not as engaging as the original promenade production, the desperation of a community struggling with unemployment remains relevant and the lyricism of the language is fully explored by director, John Tiffany.

Road is at simplest about a group of northern working class people who weave in and out of each other’s lives, over the course of a night, getting progressively drunker. Director John Tiffany, of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child fame, elected that the original promenade set-up would have been inelegant when staged in the Sloane Square setting of the Royal Court bar, posing as a Working Men’s Club. As a result the scenes, which felt like happenings you might just have stumbled upon, all took place under the illustrious proscenium arch. Without the interaction of a promenade show, the episodic, mixed monologue and scenic format, at times felt confusing. 

That said, cast were exceptionally strong and many of these episodes were deeply engaging. Shane Zaza’s Joey, depressed in bed, and Michelle Fairley’s performance as she desperate attempts to seduce a drunken soldier, were powerful moments. A promenade production would have allowed for more of that intimacy and a chance to get closer to the action. The scenes are often introduced and narrated by Lemn Sissay as Scullery. However without a physical journey to lead the audience on, his interactions felt oddly pantomimic and jarred with the boxed-in scenes that we encountered.  
The parallels between Thatcher’s Britain and today are evident. But at a time when we need to be taken closer to the plights of poverty, race and gender discrimination, this Royal Court revival literally distances us rather than drawing us in. What a damn shame. 

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