# The Permanent Way > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/The_Permanent_Way > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/The_Permanent_Way.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Permanent_Way > Source revision: 1253208794 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) This article is about the play. For the generic meaning of the phrase, see [track (rail transport)](/source/Track_(rail_transport)). For other uses, see [permanent way (disambiguation)](/source/Permanent_way_(disambiguation)). ***The Permanent Way*** is a play by [David Hare](/source/David_Hare_(playwright)) first performed in 2003. In 1991 the [British government](/source/Government_of_the_United_Kingdom) decided to [privatise the country's railways](/source/Privatisation_of_British_Rail). David Hare recounts the development through the first-hand accounts of those most intimately involved. From passengers to government ministers, their voices bear witness to a narrative of national mismanagement. Inspired by [Ian Jack](/source/Ian_Jack)'s book *The Crash That Stopped Britain* ISBN 9781862074682, the play is a piece of [verbatim theatre](/source/Verbatim_theatre) based on numerous interviews, by the actors themselves, of the people involved. Theatre director [Max Stafford-Clark](/source/Max_Stafford-Clark) and transport journalist [Christian Wolmar](/source/Christian_Wolmar) selected the interviewees.[1] Collation and editing, with a little linking narration added, allowed the quotations to take the form of 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](/source/Lloyd_Hutchison) of [Out of Joint](/source/Out_of_Joint_theatre_company), the original acting 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](/source/Railways_Act_1993) setting out the structure of rail privatization and the survival and bereavement stories resulting from the rail crashes of [Southall](/source/Southall_rail_crash), [Ladbroke Grove](/source/Ladbroke_Grove_rail_crash), [Hatfield](/source/Hatfield_rail_crash), and [Potters Bar](/source/Potters_Bar_rail_accidents#2002). One character is author [Nina Bawden](/source/Nina_Bawden), who was badly injured in the Potters Bar crash in which her husband [Austen Kark](/source/Austen_Kark) was killed. The play first opened in [York](/source/York) in November 2003, directed by Stafford-Clark. The production toured Britain in 2004, winning the "Best Touring Production" award from the [Theatre Management Association](/source/Theatre_Management_Association).[2] A version for radio, with the original director and cast members, was made by Catherine Bailey Productions and broadcast on [BBC Radio 3](/source/BBC_Radio_3) on 14 March 2004. It was runner up in the year's [Sony Radio Academy Award](/source/Sony_Radio_Academy_Awards) for drama.[3] In September 2019 a "site specific" production, directed by [Alexander Lass](/source/Alexander_Lass), was mounted in the [Vaults Theatre](/source/Vaults_Theatre), beneath the tracks of [London Waterloo station](/source/London_Waterloo_railway_station).[4] ## References 1. Ascherson, Neal (9 November 2003). ["Whose line is it anyway?"](https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/nov/09/politicaltheatre.hatfield). *[The Observer](/source/The_Observer)*. Retrieved 14 September 2019. 1. ["Previous Awards"](https://web.archive.org/web/20131203030550/http://www.tmauk.org/awards/previousawards.aspx). Theatre Management Association. Archived from [the original](http://www.tmauk.org/awards/previousawards.aspx) on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2008. 1. Staff Writers. ["The Drama Award"](http://www.radioawards.org/winners/?awid=22&awname=The+Drama+Award&year=2005). Sony Radio Academy Awards. Retrieved 2 August 2009. 1. Billington, Michael (20 September 2019). ["The Permanent Way review – if only Hare's study of railway chaos had dated"](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/sep/20/the-permanent-way-review-the-vaults-london-david-hare). *[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)*. p. 23. Retrieved 3 July 2022. ## External links - [*The Permanent Way* from Out Of Joint](https://web.archive.org/web/20160413111452/http://www.outofjoint.co.uk/production/permanentway) ## See also - *[The Navigators](/source/The_Navigators_(film))* (2001) - a [Ken Loach](/source/Ken_Loach) film with the same theme --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [The Permanent Way](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Permanent_Way) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Permanent_Way?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.