ROAD | Education Pack

DIRECTED BY CARA NOLAN

EDUCATION PACK

DIRECTOR’S NOTE JOEY

It has been a real privilege to work with this cast of De Montfort University students over the last few months. Whilst it was written nearly 40 years ago, Jim Cartwright’s Road remains relevant to our lives today and it’s been inspiring to see how this engaged and exciting group of young people have really embraced this story, finding ways to share the reality of its characters.

I think the best part of working on any play is the discovery that happens in the rehearsal room, the process of creativity that leads to the work you see on stage. I first read this play over 20 years ago and I’m finding things out about it right now in the rehearsal room that I’d never seen before.

Set on an unnamed road in 80s northern England, Jim Cartwright really captures the desperation of everyday people during this time, but also their humanity – their need for a night out, their need for some joy. As well as dealing with the harsh realities of the time, Cartwright’s script brings a great deal of humour and poetry, it has been great to explore these complexities with the cast throughout rehearsals.

It has been a thrill to work with this enthusiastic group of 18 students, our incredible creative team, all those at DMU and of course, Team Curve.

What this show needs is an audience, so thank you for joining us and supporting arts in education and these talented students.

Cara Nolan

SYNOPSIS

1987. An unpopular leader is re-elected, the country lives in fear of terrorist attacks and is still reeling from the effects of recession. But for the inhabitants of Lancashire Street, there’s a party to go to. The vagrant Scullery is your tour guide, introducing you to an array of characters all trying to find some kind of escape from their squalid existence.

Jim Cartwright’s play is an arresting mix of humour and pathos, transporting the audience with energy, passion and poetry, leaving you uplifted and reminded of the extraordinary resilience of the human spirit.

Road explores the lives of the people who live in an unnamed road, in a deprived, working-class area of Lancashire during the Thatcher government – a time of high unemployment in the north of England. The action takes place over the course of one evening as the residents of the road prepare to go out, follow them at the club they go to and then on home afterwards. Despite its explicit nature, it was considered extremely effective in

portraying the desperation of people’s lives at this time, as well as containing a great deal of humour. A passionate, poetic and positive portrayal of working-class life, it is often performed on a promenade, allowing the audience to follow the narrator (Scullery) along the road and visit different sets and the different homes of the characters.

Road is a powerful ensemble performance that will celebrate the diversity and breadth of talent, produced in collaboration with De Montfort University join the student acting company as they perform Jim Cartwright’s seminal state of the nation play.

Poignant, funny and poetic, Road is a portrayal of ordinary people’s lives set against the backdrop of a divided nation.

Age recommendation 16+ Contains strong language, with scenes and themes of an adult nature.

CHARACTER BREAKDOWNS

CHARACTERS IN ROAD

THE EXERCISE FOR THE CHARACTERISATION

Three words

1 Over the course of two minutes, write down as many words as you can to describe your character. Try not to overthink this and rather treat it as a free writing exercise, do not lift your pen off the paper.

2 Look back over the list you have created and select the three most important words.

3 Are they similar? Do those three words speak to a particular aspect of their personality? Or the current situation they are in? Are they contrasting? What does this say about them? Is this how you feel about the character?

4 Looking at the three words you have selected, can you think of a person you know whom these words also describe? This could be someone from your life, a friend, a family member or peer. Or it could be a character from television, film, or a famous personality.

Think about how that person behaves, what about them that makes them fit the three words. How would they approach your character’s text or situation?

5 Take a piece of your characters text or a short scene with a partner and perform it as the person you have selected. You are not trying to perform an impersonation of them but rather trying to channel them.

6 Reflect on what this has added to your understanding of character and the ways in which you can play them.

Three sentences

The cast of Road did the above exercise and then went on to compose three lines about their character. The purpose was to encapsulate what their character is about, and I gave the following example:

An actor playing the title role of Shakespeare’s Hamlet might describe him as;

A complicated and confused man, who has had the world he knew ripped away from him. Desperate to make sense of this rapid change in circumstances he fights to figure out how he fits into the world around him.

There are no criteria that the three sentences must fit, they can be practical, conceptual or poetic. But they must be useful to your character.

‘Why is the world so tough? It’s like walking through meat in high heels.’

Rehearsal photography by Kieran Vyas

CHARACTER CARDS CREATED BY THE CAST OF ROAD

CHARACTER WORDS SENTENCES

Carol Brave Sisterly Distanced Power Mature

Dor Playful Experienced Perfectionist Extroverted Entertainer

Carol is a distant daughter who has been forced to become mature young because of an ignorant mother. She is a brave young woman who sticks up for herself and others. She is a caring friend who wants to have fun so she can numb their despair.

Dor is an extroverted, humorous 29-year-old who loves to entertain everyone on the road on a night out. Although she is reaching 30, she is still a party girl who will never say no to a night out, even if it means becoming a third wheel to Lane. She is a playful and flirty perfectionist who cares about her appearance so much that she will not take any risks that potentially could ruin her makeup or nails… unless alcohol is involved.

Lane Playful Careless Realist Hollow

Underneath a playful exterior, Lane is an unfulfilled character dealing with her miserable circumstances. She is aware of the environment she lives in – poverty, alcoholism, unemployment –yet she presents herself as though everything is fine. She is very flirty and teasing but not romantic towards men and tends to be promiscuous. She makes a good face to a bad game.

Valerie Broken Defeated Trapped Hopeful

Marion Lonely Sensitive Passionate Affection-seeking Witty

Valerie is sunrise covered by dark clouds, a lost soul defeated by her situation, caught in a spiral of questions she constantly asks herself. She wishes she had the strength to get up, walk away and rewrite her story.

Loneliness has made Marion a sensitive woman as she tries to find genuine affection in emotionally unavailable people. While she is mentally and emotionally drained, she has an energetic side that, once provoked, can open a witty and passionate side to her.

Joey Persuasive Expressive Lost Deprived Regretful

Brink Childish Fun-loving Hollow

Unchivalrous Abandoned

Joey is a complex being. His emotion’s make him lose all sense of reality. He cares so much about everything but doesn’t always go about it the right way. Despite not wanting to admit it, he knows his stubbornness will be his demise. He’s just choosing to be ignorant for ‘the cause’, he is the horse brought to water, determined not to drink.

Brink is a young man who lives for the moment, because if he looked at the rest of his life he’d realise how hollow he is. A barren wasteland of pain repressed inside, Brink plays pretend one day at a time, trying to hold onto the cheerfulness he once felt as a child. Brink’s unchivalrous behaviour poorly ensconces his damage from abandonment, the void of nothing within him screams volumes whilst the outside façade maintains a still bright image.

Clare Stubborn Innocent Kind Thoughtful Loving

Bisto Electric Relaxed Quirky Sociable Rebellious

Brenda Pushy Shameless Tenacious Unbothered Unapologetic

Clare is struck in love with her boyfriend that, although she is intelligent, she will go to any length to make him happy, no matter the consequences.

Bisto has fortunately been able to make a career despite the nation’s economic crisis. He chooses a niche DJing space to work, as he doesn’t want to become too commercial. He has an ‘I do what I want’ attitude.

Brenda is a middle-aged mother, who’s become disillusioned and uninterested in the day to day. She is unapologetic in her persona, only displaying tenaciousness when constantly arguing with her daughter and asking others for money shamelessly. A mother who wasn’t meant to be one, who now borders on a drunk.

The Professor Failure Narcissist Desperate Ambitious Hungry

Skinlad Alone Misunderstood Focused Elusive

Molly Playful Melancholic Bright Disorientated Sunshine

Scullery Confident Witty Optimistic Connection Revive

The Professor had ambition, but lacks the skill to accomplish his goals. A failing writer/scientist who is now just desperate for food. He is a helpless, starving loner, who regrets how he lost everything and became powerless.

Skinlad is a 19-year-old guy strongly focused on staying fit and fighting because this is what gives him satisfaction – the ‘tingle’. People do not understand him, so apart from a few mates, he chooses to be alone and looks for a purpose when he discovers Buddhism.

Molly is a playful person who spend her time singing and getting ready even though she isn’t going out really. You can see through her eyes that they are melancholic but at the same time, no matter what life throws her way, she remains a happy soul.

Scullery is a confident, witty and well-known man amongst road. Throughout he is hyper aware of his social standing and influence on the streets as a rough but friendly character. He uses his friendly and optimistic nature in an attempt to connect and revive life in his community.

Eddie Energetic Empty Naïve Nostalgic Melancholic

Jerry Sentimental Ruminating Lost Maladaptive Romanticising

Eddie is an energetically empty young lad who is afraid of life in a prospectless future. Eddie is melancholically nostalgic and romanticises a time before he was alive which he is too naïve to understand. He is a confident fool who is too awkward to make his way through a romantic life.

Jerry struggles with a lack of a connection and meaning in his current life, which he attempts to escape from by retreating into memories of his young adult life. However, his perspective on the past is overly idealistic and his constant reminiscing only serves to highlight the contrast between his fantasies and the real life circumstances he’s living with, feeding into a cycle of despair and further delusion.

Helen Lonely Insecure Promiscuous Introverted Forgotten

Louise Ambitious Excitable Fearful Follower Empty

Helen is a lonely middle-aged woman who sexualises herself and talks too much to mask her insecurities. Her promiscuity is a deflection from the fact that she craves meaningful company and the fact that she doesn’t want to accept her age.

Louise is a deeply contradictory character. She is driven and strives for a life better than the one she has now, but she is trapped by the cards life has dealt her. She creates a façade of an excitable party girl to mask the pain she feels from her stagnant surroundings.

DESIGN ASPECTS OF ROAD

Here are the Main Duties briefed to the Set Designer

• Work alongside the Director/Producer to create the look and feel of the production from vision/initial ideas, and with Curve’s in-house Production Manager to realise the production, to the first performance.

• Meet with the Director/Producer to collaboratively discuss the production.

• Attend rehearsals/production meetings, as required.

• Assist/oversee the install and build of the set within rehearsals.

• Provide design support for the install and mounting/running of the production during the technical rehearsals. click

Curve’s Chief Executive Chris Stafford and Artistic Director Nikolai Foster said:

“We’re proud to collaborate once again with our friends and partners at DMU, and it’s terrific to see this year’s coproduction taking shape in rehearsals. Led by Cara Nolan, the cohort of students have embraced the process, working with team members here at Curve to create what is sure to be a remarkable piece of theatre.

“We’re passionate about the impact of the arts and creativity in education, and the skills these students are gaining during this experience – from teamwork to critical thinking – will be beneficial throughout their future careers. If you’re able to, please do come to see Road this May and support the incredible work of all those involved.”

Dr. Elinor Parsons Senior Lecturer in Drama at DMU said:

“The co-production provides the students with an invaluable experience of the pleasures and pressures of working in a professional context. The rehearsals build on the students’ work in the Drama degree programme and encourage their contributions to the production as performers and researchers. The intense collaborative opportunity enables the students to take risks and make exciting discoveries.”

Rehearsal photography by Kieran Vyas

interview with Set Designer Abby Clarke

Road is a Curve and De Montfort University co-production, an annual collaboration between the two organisations which, for over a decade, has given drama students the opportunity to work with professional theatre-makers and perform to audiences at the theatre.