Casting has been announced for the first major London revival of David Hare’s play ‘The Permanent Way‘.
The cast will feature Anna Acton (EastEnders, The Bill), Jonathan Coote (Home, Emil and the Detectives and As You Like it at the National Theatre), Paul Dodds (Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet and The Merry Wives of Windsor for the RSC), Jacqui Dubois (Ghost the Musical, People, Places and Things), Lucas Hare (The Crown, Broadchurch and Die Another Day), Gabrielle Lloyd (The Lady in the Van, Theatre Royal Bath) Tej Obano (EastEnders, LoveSticks), Sakuntala Ramanee (East Is East Trafalgar Studios, Romeo and Juliet for the RSC) and Jonathan Tafler (The Mousetrap West End).
The provocative play, which premiered its award-winning run in York and then at the National Theatre in 2003 is revived at a new site-specific staging performed in The Vaults, London’s alternative subterranean venue beneath Waterloo Station.
Revelatory, witty, and moving, The Permanent Way is an astonishing interrogation of the chaos arising from the botched privatisation of Britain’s railways. Told through the first-hand accounts of those involved at every level, from passengers to Civil Service mandarins, this extraordinary verbatim piece asks challenging questions of responsibility and governmental mismanagement. Given the repeated failures of Britain’s railways it’s unlikely we have learned anything in the intervening years.
David Hare’s award-winning play roars to life in a provocative new site-specific staging performed in The Vaults, London’s alternative subterranean venue beneath Waterloo Station, running from Friday
David Hare said, “I had hoped my 2003 play would become outdated. But the latest Independent review in 2019 proves the truth of what the play argued over 15 years ago: that the state of the railways is a whacking great distressing metaphor for just how badly the British were governed, and how even more hopelessly badly they’re governed today.”
The piece is directed by Alexander Lass (46 Beacon) with Set and Costume by Ruth Hall, lighting design by Rick Fisher, sound design by Roly Witherow and movement direction by Siân Williams.
The Permanent Way will run from 13 September 2019 until 17 November 2019 at The Vaults, London.
