The Permanent Way

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The Permanent Way is a play by David Hare.

In 1991 the British government decided to privatise the country's railways. David Hare tells the story through the powerful first-hand accounts of those most intimately involved. From passengers to government ministers, their voices bear witness to a story of national mismanagement.

The play was based on numerous interviews, by the actors themselves, of the people involved. With a little linking narrative added, skilful collating and editing allowed the work to take the form of a powerful drama:

“

Why aren't people angry? They were robbed. What belonged to them was taken from them by a bunch of bankers and incompetent politicians. What was theirs was given away. What was foredoomed to fail failed. And they aren't angry.

”

Actor Lloyd Hutchison of Out of Joint, the original theatrical company, describes Hare's contribution thus: "He puts in very, very little bridging material. The play is really one statement after another. He hasn't exactly written it; he collated it."^[1]

Incidents covered in the play include the passing of the Railways Act 1993 setting out the structure of rail privatization and the survival and bereavement stories resulting from the rail crashes of Southall, Ladbroke Grove, Hatfield, and Potters Bar.

The play first opened in York in November 2003, and then toured the country in 2004. It was most recently performed in Liverpool by students from LIPA in May 2007.[1]