About the Play:

The Permanent Way is a full length drama by David Hare. Revelatory, witty, and moving, The Permanent Way is an astonishing interrogation of the chaos arising from the botched privatization of Britain's railways. Told through the first-hand accounts of those most intimately involved, their voices bear witness to a story of government mismanagement, blame-shifting and diversion – a theme that is, sadly, very universal.

The Permanent Way is a docudrama about the truth and consequences of the public sell-off of Britain's railroads. In 1991, before an election they did not expect to win, the Conservative government made a fateful decision to privatize the railways. As a result, 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 involved at every level of the system, from passengers to railway workers to government ministers. Over the course of the play, testimonies are heard from transport police, rail executives and, most stirring of all, the survivors and bereaved family members from Britain's four major rail disasters that killed dozens, injured hundreds and bereaved thousands. The Permanent Way is an extraordinary verbatim piece asks challenging questions of responsibility and governmental mismanagement and explores the tragic consequences when profits and self serving politicians sacrificed transport safety. It also still has much to say about the mess a country gets into when it doesn't look after it's infrastructure.

The Permanent Way first had an award-winning run in York and then at the National Theatre in 2003.

Cast: 4 female, 5 male

What people say:

"Plays about politics are often said to date quickly. This one endures because it is sharply informative and profoundly moving." — The Guardian (UK)

"A drama that stirs indignation and pity in equal measure, political theatre that transcends the old conflicts between Right and Left to condemn the whole mindset and attitudes of those allegedly running our nation's affairs. It is, by a mile, the most significant and revealing new play of the year. If you want to understand why Britain isn't working, you need to see The Permanent Way." — Daily Telegraph (London)

"A compelling, fast-moving and astringently witty collage of first-hand testimonies and conflicting points of view… The picture that emerges with great force from these vivid, eloquently juxtaposed vignettes is of a debased culture that sets less store by the expertise that comes from intimate knowledge of a subject than by vacuous so-called management skills." — Independent (London)

About the Playwright:

Sir David Hare is one of Britain's most internationally performed playwrights. He was born in Sussex in 1947. A writer of social themes, David Hare has been Associate Director of the National Theatre in London since 1984. He was knighted in 1998 and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.