Steve Ross and Damien Atkins (photo by David Hou)
Extreme complexity is the key
London Road an unexpected piece
by Dave Ross
The story of a community rocked by the serial killing of five prostitutes seems odd fodder for a musical, but a musical it is. And a rather pretty one at that. Canadian Stage has created a new production for London Road’s North American premiere, after a successful 2011 run at the National Theatre in the UK.
This production is one that confounds. The story is deftly handled by playwright Alecky Blythe, with music by Adam Cork. This isn’t the story of the murders, but the story of the residents of London Road, where serial killer Steve Wright lived during his crime spree. We never meet Wright, nor his victims. The script orbits around the events taking place leading up to Wright’s arrest and beyond, through the lens of the other victims of London Road, victims just by dint of living there. In writing the play, Blythe interviewed the residents, and then transferred their words verbatim into a script. Cork then listened to these same recordings and wrote music to match, a challenge considering the necessary preservation of the rhythm of the speakers on the tapes, and the desire to preserve the timbre and pitch of the speakers as well.
