'Road' By Jim Cartwright Full Blog Entry: Week 1 & 2

'Road' By Jim Cartwright - Section 1: First Impressions, Notes on the Author of 'Road', Characters that Stood out to Me, Minor and Major Themes Discovered, Questions the play brings up, Casting Choice, How Do I picture 'Road'?

 

Week 1

My First Impressions Of 'Road' After The Read-through:

The Play of 'Road' is set in 1987, in a small town in Lancashire just outside of Bolton. The main road that appears in the play, I imagined to be, is a long, worn down street that has suffered because of the job cuts, stores/buildings being closed down and people laying graffiti on the brick walls and/or on the road itself. I must say that I found it incredibly easy to imagine the street of 'Road' because we are currently experiencing a similar situation in modern society because of the lack of jobs going around the country and my dad lived in a similar area up north during his childhood.

My initial impression of the play is that it's a little strange to take grasp of at first. I was very uncertain about the play at first, like so many others, because there were certain scenes that we had read which had made me very uncomfortable when reading it. I don't think that this is a bad thing however since I find it makes the play itself appear more real. If there was anything that I did enjoy during the first read-through is the humour; it was a very real sense of humour rather than stage humour, I think of it this way as all of the characters seem to have their own specific personality. I hope this is something that all of us can draw from for when it comes to the rehearsal process of this new play.

This had made a great impact on me when coming to understanding the many characters in the play because I know many people in my life, such as my dad, that have lived through similar experiences as them. I think that performing 'Road' to an audience is an appropriate choice as they'll be able to pick up on this as they are watching to the point where they'll be developing a sense of empathy for the characters despite how eccentric and shocking they appear to be.

I'm sure that when I come to doing the contextual research for this new project that I'll be able to understand the characters even more.

Notes on the Author of 'Road'

http://www.samuelfrench-london.co.uk/author/1358/jim-cartwright

Jim Cartwright lives in Lancashire, where he was born. Road, his first play, opened at the Royal Court Theatre in 1986, was revived again at the Royal Court that same year, and again in 1987, before being taken on a nationwide tour. It won the Samuel Beckett Award, Drama magazine’s Best New Play Award and was joint winner of the George Devine Award and the Plays and Players’ Best New Play Award. His other work for theatre included Bed at the Royal National Theatre in 1989; TWO at the Bolton Octagon Theatre in 1989, transferring the Young Vic, London in 1990 (winner of the Manchester Evening News Best New Play Award); The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice at the Royal National Theatre in 1992, and at the Aldwych Theatre later that year (winner of the Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy in 1992 and the Olivier Award for Best Comedy 1993). He wrote and directed I Licked A Slag'S Deodorant for the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs at the Ambassadors Theatre in 1996. Other works include, for radio: Baths, BBC in 1987; for television Road, BBC in 1987 (winner of the Golden Nymph Award for Best Film); Vroom, Channel Four 1988 (selected as Centerpiece at the London Film Festival); June, BBC 1990; Wounded, BBC 1990; Bed, BBC 1994.

Characters That Stood Out To Me:

There were two characters in-particular that stood out to me over the others during the first read-through: Joey and Skin-Lad.

Joey appears to be a man that may be in his late teens to early 20's. He is in a relationship with a woman called Claire. My first impressions of this character is that he appears to be very in-tune with his emotions and I found that he really stands out over the other characters in the play because of his current state where he is battling anorexia. This is one of the many characters within 'Road' that I feel the audience will be feeling sympathy for when it comes to our performance in May.

Skin-Lad was also another character that I had an interest in. I think that Skin-Lad may be in his teens also, perhaps a little younger than Joey (17-19). When reading his lines for the first read-through, he appeared to me as a very loud, violent and possibly mentally unstable person. This could be further evidenced by the fact that in a couple of scenes before his monologue, the characters called Dor, Lane and Scullery describe him as "He's a fucking nutter!".

What Themes Did I Pick Up On?

After finishing the first read-through, me and the group had a discussion with our lecturer as to what themes are contained within the play. We had a whiteboard available where we had all contributed into our understanding of 'Road' by listing the more minor themes we found which were evident within the script.

We had minor themes such as:

• Sex - Deduced from the so called prostitute characters within 'Road'
• Alcohol - Deduced from some scenes involving alcohol and also having a pub
• Drugs - Deduced from how some characters appear to be under the influenced to their actions
• Disorders - Deduced from some characters having disorders to do with eating and handling their mental and/or physical states
• Poor - Deduced from how many of the characters in the play appear to have no money to their name and resort to stealing or sharing supplies with one another
• Slang - Deduced from the words within the script of 'Road' to match the same language that people who live in Lancashire use
• Confusion - Deduced from some of the monologues and the many questions that are expressed between characters within their scenes
• Food - Deduced from how little food there appears to be on 'Road', there seems to be a fish and chips shop, but that's really it
• Strong Language - Deduced from the evident strong language within the script of 'Road'
• Abuse - Deduced from the scenes containing physical violence

After having this discussion as to what themes are within 'Road', I'd say that we all have a pretty good understanding of the play already. I hope that in the following weeks on this new assignment that we can all share new ideas further exploring and analyzing the script in our own time.

Week 2

Unfortunately, I was absent for most of this week due to severe illness. This did give me a lot of time to sit down and read the script to analyse further on the many characters and themes to give me a much better understanding after the first week. 

 

I had mostly gained most of my information by looking at each line carefully and also going into further depth for the many stage directions and there are hidden bits of information which did give me more information towards the characters personalities.

I found a book about the era that 'Road' takes place (1980's) in my local library and it gave me some help with the analysing into the themes of the play. There were also many questions that came up when I was analysing the script, so I'll list them below in this entry.

This informative text did give me a lot to think about when looking towards the themes of 'Road'. After reading through the script several times, I can understand how all the characters feel whilst they live their lives on the road and it all does link together to become a great piece of analysis.

Questions That The Play Brings Up:

After reading the play in further depth, I've analysed multiple things as to how we could structure and play and also discovering further characteristics about certain characters which may not have been evident to the other members of the group during the first read-through.

The questions that I'll be listing here will be spilt up into 4 different sections: Logistics, Character, Plot and finally Scriptural.

Logistics:

- Do we include a Pre-Show and/or Interval?
- Is the audience going to be included in some way?
- How are the living rooms going to be arranged? Are there multiple rooms set up? Will elements such as lighting be included in each? Will we just use the same room but bring on and off different props to signify it's a different location?

Character:

- What is Linda and Chantel's relationship?
- What is Barry and Brenda's relationship before the play?
- Do Barry and Brenda usually get along with each other?
- Why does Brenda keep pestering Barry? Does she like him? Does she want his attention? Has she got anything better to do?
- Why does Barry keep rejecting Brenda? Does he find enjoyment in doing this?
- What type of relationship does Louise and her brother have?
- Is Carol a prostitute? Is Brenda?
- Why doesn't Brenda eat? Does she waste her money on booze?
- What is Carol and Louise's relationship like? Have they been friends long?
- Why does Eddie spray his dad with the anti-persparent deodorant? (Page 13)
- How do people really feel about Skin-Lad?
- Why is The Professor doing this study on the road?
- Did being in the war affect Jerry in some way?

Plot:

- Why is there a Pre-Show? What does it set up?
- What was Joey and Claire's relationship like?
- Why is Bald so submissive? (Page 53)
- Can we assess that there are similarities between Valerie, Molly and Brenda?
- Does Valerie leave her husband? Why does she stay with him? What was their relationship like?
- Is there any future for the youth within the play: Dor, Lane, Chantel, Linda, Skin-Lad?
- Why does Linda's dad (Brian) hurt her?
- Does Linda always have to clean up after her dad?

Scriptural:

- What is the significance of Bisto? Is he trying to show people how to live a better life?
- Who is Tom Stanley? What is his significance within the play?
- What is the significance of Act 2 Scene 10? Why does it go on for so long compared to other scenes?
- What is the purpose of Blowpipe?
- Do people even care about each other in 'Road'?

The Key Themes That Appear Within 'Road':

Escape:

"Somehow, a somehow, we might escape!" - Eddie, Carol, Louise and Brink

Escape is a key theme within 'Road' as it follows each of the characters collectively and individually. Each of the characters want to leave their current life for a better one since all they seem to be taking part in for every day life is ruining themselves as a person. In their present state, anything would definitely be better than what they're used to now. Each of them recognises the barren environment that they all live in and to leave it behind, but they can't. A great example is the character called Curt since he quotes saying that the Road stinks and that nothing but rot and grime falls there. Each of the characters want to leave, but there isn't enough work to go around to support themselves to leave.

For all of the characters, it seems that they need a vice to numb and dull the pain that they are feeling. Alcohol is the most prominent vice which each character takes part in and it seems that this is the best way to numb the suffering. Drinking may not solve their problems on a long-term basis, but it is enough to prolong it until the next day. They drink to forget their problems, they drink to socialise, and they drink to cause more problems. To them, anything would be better than facing their lives and seeing no future for themselves. It's all about the pursuit of getting alcohol and again being distracted from their lives. Dor and Lane have nothing better to do other than to go out, find a guy to then go home with that guy to get a pint of alcohol.

Characters like For and Lane, and eventually Chantel and Lane, turn to sleeping with guys for the fun of it. There is simply nothing better for them to do in this town as there is no jobs going around and it seems that prostitution is the last resort for them. We see this happening through the generations of characters starting with Brenda, who is still pursuing any guy that she can get her hands on. This then leads down to her daughter, Carol, who goes out and parties every night trying to meet the next guy to bring home for that night. We also see this with the two younger characters in 'Road': Chantel, who starts smoking and flirting with guys in the audience. And Linda, who lives with her dad, Brian, and is always picking up after him and the women he brings home every night.

For Joey and Claire, they are faced with the illnesses associated with poverty. Claire is starving due to a lack of food intake and also having no way of getting food since she has no money to spend. Joey is sick and tired of living in this putrid world because of this very reason, he can't bear to see her suffer and sees that suicide is the only way he can truly be satisfied. That is his escape from the road, if he can't be with the only person in his life that he cares about, he'd be better off being dead and being with her in the eternal afterlife which he strives for.

All this comes together to the final scene in 'Road' with Carol, Brink, Louise, and Eddie repeating the line "somehow, a somehow might escape." This line shows that the characters have to escape, it's going to happen, they don't know how or when, but it just has too. Each of these characters have different wants and needs and they are sick of the way things are now. Eddie wants to be a Hero; Brink wants to be a cowboy; Carol wants people to stop looking at her as a sexual object; Louise wants to be listened to. The play comes to an end with this phrase being repeated over and over so it's all down to the audiences interpretation as to whether or not they actually are able to meet these wishes. 

Holding Onto The Past:

"I can't get over it. I can't get over the past, how it was. I just can't." - Jerry

The only way that some of the characters can make it through the day is by holding onto the better times. Living in their golden years is what these characters need the most out of their lives as now it's just a dry, putrid world filled with poverty. They have nothing now because of this, and it doesn't look like their lives will improve anytime soon. Two characters spring to mind when thinking about this theme: Molly and Jerry. These two characters put themselves in a perpetual state of denial and disillusionment. We see these characters cease to change their lifestyles because they are still holding onto that single memory. Anything out of life would seem so small compared to these memories that they once had. Will these two characters still be like this in the next five, ten, fifteen years? They should try to have at least a positive outlook on life, but the question still stands: what is out there for them? They don't appear to have any family and/or friends left, so the only thing that can make them happy is to relive these memories over and over.

Molly is so disillusioned that she routinely, before she goes to bed each night, puts on her make-up. She even goes as far as to say how she contorted her face with the reactions her friends gave her. Here is a woman who is beaten, broken, and seriously ill, however she is happy because she is reliving these memories. Her life has now turned into this sad, repetitive nature, but it is what she needs out of the life she now lives in like all the other characters. The audience may perceive this character as being mentally unable to go on in life, but if this is what makes her happy, is there anything wrong with that? We can learn from Molly that life treats us harshly from time to time, but it doesn't stop you from trying to enjoy the rest of the time you have left on Earth.

With Jerry, he may be holding onto the past in a disillusioned state, but he at least acknowledges the fact with this quote: "I can't get over it. I can't get over the past, how it was. I just can't." He thoroughly remembers everything, going into extreme detail such as what type of clothes he had worn when he was chatting up with girls at bars. These were his glory days. This quote sums up what Jerry is going through currently as nothing is going well for him anymore, he's just a sad, lonely old man with nothing to give. It's clear that he doesn't want to keep reliving the past, he wants to move on, but he has held these former experiences so high up that nothing would ever come close to them.  Jerry shows us that all of the characters in the play are stuck in  horrible purgatory that they can never get out of. The only thing that makes the time bearable is remembering the good times they once had.

Poverty:

"Lend us a Fiver?" - Brenda

The inhabitants of 'Road' are out of work, have very little money, abuse themselves and even resort to prostitution to pay for their own houses. They live in squalor, don't eat regularly and bring their arguments in front of everyone to hear. We can tell that this is a very classless section of Lancashire feeling the crushing blow of mass unemployment, inflation and poverty that has stricken the U.K in the late 1970's and early 1980's because of Margaret Thatcher's time as prime-minister. Louise is telling her mother that she doesn't eat. She should eat, but this isn't by choice, as she can't afford to eat. Scullery takes to looting because there is no other way for him to make money for himself.

Rotting Away:

"It's been broken..." - Scullery

The members of 'Road' endure a progressively decreasing cycle until they die. The best metaphor for this theme is for what Scullery says at the very beginning of the play: "The town, like the sign, has been broken for years." The town is slowly rotting away with the streets becoming bare, people looting and damaging property and everyone's morals being replaced by quick fix vices. They wait out their own lives by drinking, having sex with whomever, stealing, joking about each other, picking fights, just about anything that will just get them through the day. These people have no jobs and also have broken families, so they have nothing to do but participate in these vices.

Curt's speech at the beginning of Act 2 helps to illustrate what the members of the community think about 'Road'. "God it stinks this road. Staleness, rot, stink, sex, drink, blood. There's always been something wrong down here. It's where things slide to but don't drop off." Road is like a wasteland where everything ends up being. Problems, muck and grime keep piling up but they never fall in capacity. Everyone is in a stink hole, and they definitely know it, but they can't do anything about it. The only thing that people can do is endure it.

The most common way to suppress these thoughts are by a form of escape, one of which is death. Joey realises this with him talking about the ends of his life. Claire convinces him out of it, only to die herself of poor conditions. Another way is by holding onto the past with the day-dreaming like Molly and Jerry do.

All of these thoughts culminate to the endless cycle of muck and hell. Life for them has become so meaningless that the community members take pleasure in the common things in life: eating, having sex etc. The members of the community will do anything to pass the time. Just like the road sign, the members are torn, tattered and stuck in an unending purgatory state where life will never get any better and events keep repeating themselves over and over again.

Relationships:

"I still love you." - Claire

'Road' explores the different types of relationships and how each of them affects one another. We can tell what the family life is like in 'Road' with each of these relationships. We can say that all of these relationships are not at all healthy. The brother-sister bond is explored with Louise and her brother. The mother-daughter relationship is explored through Carol and Brenda. The father-son explored with Eddie and his dad. Finally, the boyfriend-girlfriend explored with Marion and Brian/Joey and Claire. Through these relationships, we can see the full panorama of family life in 'Road'.

The first glimpse of the relationships we see in 'Road' starts with Louise and her brother. They do the traditional thing that comes naturally with siblings, such as nagging on at each other about where they are going at night or who they'll be with etc.. We can sense an uneasy atmosphere with the two of them. The brother asks Louise to dance and she refuses. At first, this seems very quaint and ordinary, but you can tell there may be a hint of flirting going on. Although not explicit, we can infer that there may be some jealousy between the two of them, and perhaps some sexual tension also. With this relationship, Jim Cartwright shows the reader/audience that the brother and sister are very comfortable with each other, maybe a little too comfortable.

The next relationship that is explored is that of mother and daughter with Carol and Brenda. Brenda is a single mother by way of her husband abandoning them, dying, or whatever reason. This has been hard on both Carol and Brenda. Carol feels like she has more power over her mother, we see this with Carol telling Brenda to eat. Brenda keeps telling Carol that she should obey her, but this seems to hit deaf ears. We can see that Brenda wants to be a part of her daughters life, but Carol would like to be left alone. this is a complete role reversal of power between daughter and mother, and Carol seems to be winning. We also see each woman disrespecting the other by calling them "Slag" or "Pig". If it isn't obvious already, this is a very unhealthy relationship. Brenda can demand Carol to do things, but Carol will not listen to Brenda at all. Brenda is completely powerless and Carol won't let her into her life. It seems to be a losing battle for both women at the end of the day.

On the other side of the family, we have the father and son displayed by Eddie and his dad. Their relationship shares the shift of power from parent to child with Carol and Brenda, however, this time it appears to be much more violent. Eddie completely disrespects his father as he sprays some anti-persparent deodorant in his face. There is a severe anger issue with Eddie, and his dad is taking the abuse. Is this something that is routine between the two? If so, why does his dad put up with this nonsense? Once again, the parent is powerless towards the child. Is this because they could not provide adequate upbringing that the kids are now taking it out on the parents?

The next relationships are the boyfriend-girlfriend which is displayed by Marion and Brian, Joey and Claire. We have two different types of couples here; the serious with Joey and Claire, and the casual with Marion and Brian. Brian says that he has had a wife before being in a relationship with Marion and is now just dating casually until he finds his next score, but Marion is a woman that is staying with him more than other women. They both play around, get drunk and really get the most out of their lives very similar to how the teens are supposed to act.

We have the complete opposite with Claire and Joey as they are completely in love with each other and would do anything for each other. Joey talks about ending his life if he could not be with Claire since she is dying of poor health; this is obviously a very serious issue in the couples relationship. Their supposed role models of Brian and Marion can't keep their arguments in the house and bring it out on the main road for everyone to hear.  How will the youth in this play change if the adults keep carrying on like this? They are creating a very negative atmosphere where nothing will ever change; it'll be the same routine generation after generation.

For once however, we see a true loving relationship with Claire and Joey. Even if they have problems with each other, they still get along and comfort one another in the darkest of times. It says a lot that it ended so suddenly, where all the other relationships seems to carry on.

At the end of the day, no one in 'Road' can be truly happy.

What Character Have I Been Cast As?

When returning to college for the one day that I was well, I'd received information on what character I was going to be playing for our performance of 'Road' in May. The character that I had received was Skin-Lad.

I must say that I am quite pleased to receive this character as he was one of the characters, other than Joey, that I had a particular interest in. Skin-Lad is much different from the characters that I had performed as in '13' since he appears to be much more violent and physically active compared as he's a fitness fanatic. He also appears to be much different from my own personality for the same reasons, I'm not a fitness fanatic at present and I don't ever come across as violent to anyone unless it's appropriate.

I hope that in the following weeks I'll be able to come up with different interpretations of character to play around with as I feel this will help with my character development for Skin-Lad.

How Do I Picture 'Road'? (Smells and Stage Plan)

While I was ill, the class were set some homework requiring them to go away and think about what 'Road' may smell like and also come up with the staging plan to use for our performance.

Whilst everyone was showing their ideas to the group, I was taking in some notes whilst also completing the homework during the discussion. When thinking about the different smells on 'Road', I was thinking about pollution more than most. I'd imagined that the setting of 'Road' would be very industrial with many factories and old cars which has terrible exhausts spewing out black smoke. This goes alongside the smells of alcohol, smoke from cigarettes, rotten food and/or animals (possible road kill) and the thought of manure popped up since the theme of poverty is self evident. People may not be able to afford their houses and are forced to live on the streets where utilities are limited.

After coming up with the smells, I then started to draw a brief diagram of what I'd like the staging of our performance of 'Road' to be like. Whether or not what I've imagined for the staging will be available is yet to be discussed and planned, but I think what I've made is a good layout for this play when trying to bring the audience on a journey across this road which is mentioned in the play by Scullery, who is essentially the tour guide for this performance.

Here is a picture of what I plan 'Road' to look like using the main college theatre as our performance space:

When creating the stage plan, you can see that I've thought about where the different buildings could be, as well as where the audience can sit during the performance. I feel it'll be better if the audience sit in the middle of the action as the overall dramatic effect will be higher and I think also that the performance, as well as the characters, will be more memorable.

In the second section for this blog, I'll start to discuss more into my lecturers directions for the blocking of 'Road', my character development on Skin-Lad, some contextual research concerning the historical, political, social, economic aspects and also listing character descriptions to show my understanding of each of the characters within 'Road'.