London Road returns to the National Theatre
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
FOLLOWING its sell-out run in the Cottesloe last year, Alecky Blythe and Adam Cork’s highly acclaimed music-theatre piece, London Road, returns to the National, this time to the Olivier Theatre as part of the Travelex £12 Tickets season.
Winner of the 2011 Critics’ Circle Award for Best New Musical and the 2012 Whatsonstage Award for Best Ensemble Performance, Rufus Norris’s production will run in repertoire for a limited season from July 28 to September 6, 2012.
Original cast members Clare Burt, Kate Fleetwood, Hal Fowler, Nick Holder, Claire Moore, Michael Shaeffer, Nicola Sloane, Paul Thornley and Duncan Wisbey are joined for this revival by James Doherty and Linzi Hateley.
London Road documents the events of 2006, when the quiet rural town of Ipswich was shattered by the discovery of the bodies of five women. The residents of London Road had struggled for years with the soliciting and kerb-crawling that they frequently encountered.
As Steve Wright, the occupant of No. 79, was arrested, charged and then convicted of the murders, the immediate community grappled with what it meant to be at the epicentre of this tragedy.
Adam Cork’s music uses the melodic speech patterns captured on Alecky Blythe’s recorded interviews with the people of Ipswich to create this extraordinary work which reveals the ways in which even the darkest experiences can engender a greater sense of our mutual dependence.
The production will be designed by Katrina Lindsay, with lighting by James Farncombe (originally by Bruno Poet), movement by Javier de Frutos and sound by Paul Arditti.
Half the tickets for London Road are Travelex £12 tickets; the rest are £22 and £32 – available by phone on 020 7452 3000 or online at ww.nationaltheatre.org.uk.