Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Walking into the Bedlam Theatre on Thursday night, one couldn’t help but immediately feel transported to the working-class town brought to life on stage. And that wasn’t just because of Bedlam’s notoriously chilly temperature, which made it feel as though you were sitting outside on the road alongside the characters. From the moment you stepped inside, the play began with an enticing pre-show, setting the scene and allowing you to get a feel for the characters before the first lines were even spoken. Audience members were engaged in lively conversations, with standout performances from Gemima Iseka-Bekano as she wandered through, discussing the goings-on of the road, the quality of the pub drinks, and whether anyone had a lighter to spare. Although the sold-out nature of the show caused some awkward seating arrangements, the space felt like a bustling atmosphere, primed for the stories unfolding on stage.
The stage itself was quite stripped down but highly effective. Stage managers McPherson, Taylor, and Benninghaus skilfully managed two levels of staging, seamlessly transporting the audience between different homes and settings using a scaffolding structure, a road, and furniture representing bedrooms and living rooms. Unlike Bedlam’s usual setup, the audience was wrapped around the stage. I opted for a harder plastic chair to ensure I was centrally positioned—a decision I later appreciated, as I wondered how audience members on the far side would be able to see or hear pivotal scenes. The lighting and sound designers, Freya Game, Ronan Lenane, and Mike Ivan, deserve special mention; the intricate system of lights and music was flawlessly executed. Any show that opens with Pulp’s Common People instantly wins extra commendation from me.
The play follows Noah Sarvesvaran as Scullery, a local drunk who, despite his own Glaswegian accent, serves as our guide through an unnamed Northwest town suffering under Thatcher’s economic policies. While the play is often humorous, with the audience laughing along at the eccentric characters who inhabit the street, there is an undeniable undertone of hardship and loss. As director Moses Brzeski-Reilly notes in his program message, Road is ultimately about "the love and drive of the people caught in the midst of these events."
Noah Sarvesvaran deserves high praise for his performance as Scullery, maintaining his presence on stage even during the pre-show and interval, bringing a comedic undertone to what was, at many points, a bleak narrative. However, the standout performance of the first half came from Ava Vaccari as Molly. Her body language and mannerisms were so convincing in portraying an elderly woman with Alzheimer's that it took me a while to realize she was playing two different characters. Other well-deserved mentions go to Anya McChristie and Andrew More, who played two distinct couples with great skill, and El Mair, whose speech on nostalgia and longing for the past was a highlight of the first half.
While Sam Gearing and Will Grice provided entertaining moments in the first half, their performances truly came to life in the play’s final scenes alongside Ava Godfrey and Amelia Duda, delivering an emotionally charged closing sequence. Some moments in the second half, such as those in the chip shop or following Black as a comatose soldier, felt slightly underdeveloped. However, the contrast between humour and heartbreak in the final scenes, particularly through Gearing and Godfrey’s performances, ensured that the play remained deeply impactful.
With its final nights selling out, I hope everyone who attended Road enjoyed it as much as I did.
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