London Road: a verbatim musical about the Ipswich serial murders
August 3, 2016 10:46 AM   Subscribe

The film London Road [trailer], based on the stage production of the same name, is a verbatim musical by playwright Alecky Blythe All dialogue and lyrics are drawn word for word from Blythe's 2006 interviews with residents of the street, as Ipswich police tried to solve the murders of five local women: Gemma Adams, Tania Nicol, Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell and Annette Nicholls (previously on MeFi). The play and film both focus on residents' attempts to regain neighbourhood pride after the media coverage of the murders. However, the musical has not been without controversy.

The 2011 stage production was met with criticism from those who felt it was insensitive to the victims and their families:
Before London Road opened at the National, [victim Tania Nicol's] mother, Kerry Nicol, reproached the East Anglian Daily Times, where a writer had urged its performance in Ipswich: "You or a family member have obviously never been through such a trauma as us victims." She was also upset not to have been consulted. "I'm very annoyed that they didn't even have the decency to contact me in the first place and ask," she told the BBC. (Catherine Bennett, "We shouldn't make entertainment out of others' tragedy," The Guardian)
The verbatim lyrics of the musical also provide a blunt and uncomfortable gaze into the residents' more unsympathetic views on the murdered women, who were all targeted as sex workers.
When [in the stage production] Julie said of the prostitutes, ‘They were a complete pain in the neck. Ya know – they – they’re better off 10ft under… That’s a horrible thing to say isn’t it?... But I’d love to shake his hand and say, “Thank you very much for getting rid of them,”’ a heckler shouted, ‘Shame on you!’ (Jessamy Calkin, "London Road: how the Ipswich murders inspired an acclaimed musical," The Telegraph)
And finally, an analysis of how social policy failed the women who were murdered: Remembering Ipswich: The case for decriminalisation of prostitution: A human rights and public health perspective. (Michael Goodyear, Assistant Professor, Dalhousie University's Department of Medicine and Women's Centre)
posted by hurdy gurdy girl (5 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
I saw this in its first production at the National Theatre, and it was astounding. Unlike any other musical I've ever seen. The music, in the verbatim style of composition, is as naturalistic and human as it's possible for sung dialogue to be. So much of it has stayed with me.

I'm glad it's now getting its first amateur production; this show deserves to stay in the public eye. My only note of caution is that I hope the singers get the voice patterns internalised to the point where it sounds as though the voice is their own, rather than an imitated voice. I thought the professional cast at the National must have worked very hard to get to that point; I hope the amateurs are capable of it (I suspect some will be, some won't.)
posted by Pallas Athena at 11:41 AM on August 3, 2016 [1 favorite]


I saw that National Theatre production too, and it was astonishing. I remember thinking at the time that I was watching a whole new genre of theatre being invented before my eyes.

I think I'm right in saying the cast there had earpieces feeding the original recorded dialogue into their ears as they spoke/sang it onstage. I don't know if an amateur company would be able to afford the same technology, so that may be a problem in achieving the finesse Pallas Athena mentions.

In fairness to the National's production, it did include a scene where actresses playing the five murdered sex workers stared out at the audience in mute accusation for a long few minutes of challenging silence. It was a very powerful scene on the night, the message of which I took to be: "Don't you dare leave us out of this story!"

The five women murdered in Ipswich also have their names remembered on a plaque at South London's Cross Bones Cemetery. Scroll down here for a pic.

One encouraging note in the way these killings were covered on British TV news was that the victims were always described as "murdered women" rather than merely "murdered prostitutes". It's a small enough courtesy to give them, but one which TV news granted for the first time in this particular case.
posted by Paul Slade at 2:46 PM on August 3, 2016 [1 favorite]


I'm really glad to hear about the scene with the women in the musical, and that the British media had the decency to refer to them as the murdered women rather than as merely "murdered prostitutes."

Where I live there was a terrible case where a man murdered most likely at least 50 women, all poor and marginalized, many of them aboriginal, many of them sex workers, and part of the reason it went on so long was because of police and public apathy about who was disappearing.

The trailer for London Road was really something--I think verbatim theatre can be super powerful and I would like to see it in performance, live or on film. It's good to hear from you both that it was well done.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 4:07 PM on August 3, 2016 [1 favorite]


This wasn't on my radar screen at all. But I'll watch the film now. Great post!
posted by persona au gratin at 6:39 PM on August 3, 2016 [1 favorite]


I went to see the amateur production Pallas Athena mentions this evening, and I'm glad to report it was terrific. The company responsible was Sedos, and they got a well-earned standing ovation when the curtain fell.

The speech-singing and choreographed movement was done exceptionally well, and the production refused to dodge any of the show's spiker moments - including that disturbing speech from Julie near the end. The silent scene I mentioned earlier played out rather differently to how I remember it at the National. Here, the mute stare-down was done by actresses representing all the sex workers of Ipswich rather than the murdered women alone, but the point made was the same and it resonated with equal power.

I think the difference may have arisen because this production drew not only on the show's original theatrical outing, but also on the film and the small differences that adaptation introduced. It's only natural that a show like this should continue to evolve, and that new productions are influenced by every telling it's had in the past. I for one would love to see it enter the repertoire.
posted by Paul Slade at 4:11 PM on August 6, 2016 [3 favorites]


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