Product Description

In 1991, before an election they did not expect to win, the Conservative government made a fateful decision to privatize the railways. Now, twelve years later, as a result of that privatization, the taxpayer subsidizes rail more lavishly than ever before. In "The Permanent Way", David Hare tells the intricate, madcap story of a dream gone sour, by gathering together the first-hand accounts of those most intimately involved - from every level of the system. Funny, tragic and compelling, the play offers an extraordinary parable of British mis-management that raises questions about the recent history of the country.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #104379 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-25
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

Customer Reviews

The Permanent Way.
Let me get one thing clear; I do not cry. Ever. Which is why I was somewhat startled to find myself reduced to tears whilst watching this play. Even later I found myself crying.

Strangely enough though, this isn't the first time I've seen it -- I watched it a year ago when it first opened, and though I found it chilling then, it didn't quite effect me in the same way. I think it may have something to do with the fact that last time I saw it in a much larger theatre, and from much further back, this time however I was in the front row, so close that I could see the tears on the face of the woman talking about her dead son. A surreal experience in itself because I know the actress who played that woman, and to see someone you know break down for reasons that don't belong to them, to see completely beyond that person and only think of them as a character is an extremely odd feeling, chilling in a way I cannot ever describe.

Everything about this play is just incredible, the way it is structured, the subtle references to the fact that they are real people's words, speaking to the playwrite, the way the audience's sympathies are manipulated in such a way that you cannot leave with a clear understanding of "well they were the bad guys". There is no resolution. And it works. Chillingly, hauntingly, maybe. But it works.

The use of projection in it is also amazing, the sheer impersonality of the platform boards which flip over to show the trains that never reached their destinations. And the scene with the Hatfield crash, when the Mother I mentioned earlier is still talking about the campaign of the bereaved, and you hear the sound of the train approaching and the actors are still speaking, and she is having to shout to be heard, a repeating mantra of words and then the projection screen bursts into life. A scene so intense that you want to scream, scratch off your own skin, just to take away from it, to make it stop.

A part of you is left behind then.

This is a play that will break your heart. If you get the chance to see it, do. If you can only buy it to read, do that instead. It will change you.