Accent General Lancashire.
Place Lancashire
Set A derelict street in a town in Lancashire.
Specificity There are huge references to the area of Lancashire, number one being the way Cartwright's language specific to Lancashire, the slang, the pronunciation and the general references to the area of at the time.
Gender reversal would be difficult and counter productive. It's an historic play and the plays attitudes are specific to the time and place.
Characters
Molly 70-80
Professor 40-50
Skin lad 18-25
Scullery 35-60
Lane 35-45
Dor 35-45
Blowpipe 40-65
Clare 16-20
Joey 16-20
Brink 16-20
Eddie 16-20
Chantal 16-20
Linda 11-14
Barry 35-55
Barman 45-65
Brenda 40-50
Louise 13-16
Louise's brother 17-22
Carol 15-18
Bisto Local pub DJ. Thinks he is better than he is, he knows how to get the disco going. 35-45
Tom Stanley The disco compere 30-40
Chance Peterson A local rock and roll musician, often drunk. 35-45
Helen A flirty middle aged woman 45-55
Manfred A chip shop owner 40-65
Curt 15-19
Bald 70-80
Valerie A waiter, scruffy and a smoker 35-40
Marion 35-45
Linda 10-12
Brian Father to Linda 35-45
Key words
Unemployment
Northern
Eighties
Working class
Drinking
Poverty
Comedy
Skin heads
Lost cause
Young love
Starvation
Rut
Suicide
Sex
Shagging
Teenagers
Disco
Depression
Doom and gloom
Hard times
Margaret Thatcher
Lancashire
Fly on the wall
Big brother
Alcohol
Chips
Desperation
Synopsis
Road is set on a working class street in Lancashire. We are taken through a journey of 'Road' by the Narrator, Scullery.
The played name derives from the road the play is set on as half the street sign is missing it is now known to its residents as 'Road'.
The play is a comedy with serious undertones, much reflective of the recession hit, Thatcher led, Northern, 80's. Where there is mass unemployment, little hope, poverty, family feuding and negativity.
The play takes us through snippets of characters lives on the road, often introduced or observed by Scullery.
Scullery is a modernised version of a Greek chorus, being a character within the play itself who is able to interact with the audience.
We are introduced to a wide range of characters, Old Molly living out a sad life as an old and lonely woman; Joey and Clare, teenagers who fall in love through Joeys 'sit in' and hunger strike in response to the lack of hope and life direction and of course Scullery who picks off the scraps of the 'Road', sex, cigarettes, booze, people's lives, arguments etc. Scullery is the ever present 'fly on the wall'.
Monologues and duologue etc...
Pages 17-18. (2 mins) Monologue.
Molly a member of Road, she is old and perhaps a sad and lonely case. Molly is getting ready as she were here younger self, getting ready to go out. She talks to herself as done by older women. The speech is quirky and has room for comedy. There is also a sadness to Molly. There are moments of reminiscing about her mother and people of old.
Page 19 (2 mins) Monologue.
Professor is a sad case, much like most on Road. He isn't a professor but claims to be "a nosy bastard". The speech is funny and sad. Professor has been made redundant and in his unemployment decides to write a book based on the society of Road. At the end of the speech he talks about how he got with a prostitute on his travels and studies of Road.
Pages 21-23 (3mins) Monologue.
Skin-Lad, a skin head, is a a notorious 'nutter' in Road, the one thing that keeps him vaguely controlled is his Buddhist practices.
This monologue highlights Skin-lads violent and wayward nature. He describes various incidence in which he actively provokes others to fulfil his violent needs.
Pages 26-27 (3 mins). Jerry sadly reflects on more simpler times. He is an ageing man in Road, discussing his time in the RAF, when dancing with girls was different, Brylcream was regular and national service was without question.
This monologue is emotional, Jerry breaking down in tears at the start of the speech and at the very end. His life is a sad one in comparison to his previous, Road offers him nothing.
Pages 29-42 (15 mins) in this duologue Clare 16 joins, Joey in his room. They are friends from the street. Joey hasn't eaten in four days. He is down beaten and looking for something. He is struggling with the point of life after mass he unemployment and the general malaise, that is Road.
In this duologue he is joined by Clare who at first aims to comfort him and get him out of his rut. Clare joins him in his protest after being swayed by his points,
Joey throws himself at Clare and they kiss passionately wth love. They find a deep connection and Clare stays with him.
After a lengthy monologue and some brief interludes from Scullery and the Professor. Joey looks dishevelled as time moves on. He is on deaths door. He winks at the audience and dies. Bringing the Act to a climatic end
Pages 38-39 (3 mins) In a monologue , whilst Clare sleeps next to him in bed Joey discusses his bleak outlook on life. He looks gaunt and White and the speech should be delivered with this in mind.
The speech foretells what is to come pages later, it can be seen as his final wishes of his suicide note spoken to the audience.
Pages 49-52 (5mins). Helen a very desperate and sad middle aged women brings a drunk soldier home.
In this monologue Helen shows he desperate need to be loved, to have comfort and intimacy. It highlights a very sad and lonely picture, mug aligned with the doom and gloom that Road had to offer.
The soldier throws up and instead of putting him to bed, Helen stripes him and uses this as start of sexual intimacy. The soldier hasn't a clue, and is paralytically drunk and falls to the ground unconscious.
The speech is comedic with very sad undertones.
Pages 54-56 (3 mins). Valerie is a lonely wife at home whilst her husband is out getting drunk.
In this monologue she complains about her abusive, money stealing unloving husband. She wants to cry throughout but says that she is too dry to produce tears.
The speech shows the real poverty of the northern 80's.
Valerie is another sad case in 'Road' this speech will grip an audience through its emotional and heartfelt journey. Valerie at the end breaking down in tears.
Pages 65-84 (15 mins) a four hander
Brink, Eddie, Louise and Carol have met out at the disco. What first appears to be a love in between them all turns in to something much more telling.
After the boys make their moves, the girls go to leave in defiance. The boys rush to the door to stop them. They convince the girls to stay. The scene turns in to an incredible conclusion to the whole play. Young people speaking their minds about the truths and lives that they live. It climaxes with all four in the Sofas shouting a chant "somehow I might escape". It is a hopeful end to a bleak play.
Page 78 (1 min) a short monologue.
Brink speaks his mind, though short, the speech discusses his pain and confusion of such unsettling times as the 80's. Talking about "shagging and older woman with her hair in the dog bowl and crying manly tears once she had left"
It's short but a really good speech
Written by Josh Ashley-Smith
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