⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Four Stars)

The National Theatre’s revival of London Road is a curious and at times challenging return to one of its more experimental productions. Directed by former Artistic Director Rufus Norris, this verbatim musical reveals a powerful story about a community grappling with trauma and the need to rebuild.

Alecky Blythe’s verbatim book and lyrics, paired with Adam Cork’s music and lyrics, are initially disorienting as an audience member. The repetitions, hesitations, and stumbles, “um”s and all, are jarring at first. But once settled into the rhythm, it's clear that these naturalistic tics offer a powerful authenticity. By drawing directly from real interviews with the residents of London Road, the show forgoes theatrical gloss in favour of raw truth.

The story focuses on a neighbourhood in Ipswich gripped by shock and fear in 2006 after the murders of five young sex workers by a man living among them. What unfolds is not a crime thriller but a communal reckoning, as residents attempt to reclaim their street, their sense of safety, and their place in the wider world. Norris’ direction astutely captures the collective trauma of this small community. Particularly striking are the moments when characters speak over one another or freeze mid-sentence, evoking a kind of paused footage effect that drives home the realness of their testimonies.

Katrina Lindsay’s set design is deceptively simple, beginning with little more than a few plastic chairs before morphing into a maze of police tape which the residents must duck under and around to reach the furniture of their living rooms. The second tier of the stage becomes a perch for the media who take over the street, lit with clinical precision by James Farncombe and Bruno Poet. By the show’s end, the entire space bursts into colour with the arrival of hanging baskets and flower displays, a symbolic flourish that literalises the community’s efforts to grow something beautiful from tragedy.

The ensemble cast is uniformly excellent, navigating the material with precision and care. But it is the sudden shift of focus to three sex workers that lands with the greatest emotional force. Their song is preceded by an extended pause as the actors stare out in the auditorium, forcing the audience to see them as human beings and not just the faceless, nameless "prostitutes" as they are mostly referred to by the rest of the characters in the community. It’s the stillest and loudest moment in the entire production.

While London Road is not an easy watch, nor a traditional musical by any stretch, it remains an extraordinary piece of verbatim theatre.

London Road runs at the National Theatre until 21st June 2025.

Tickets are available here: https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/whats-on/london-road/