London Road

Alecky Blythe, Adam Cork

• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN: 9781780011707
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

In late 2006 the everyday life of the quiet rural town of Ipswich was shattered by the discovery of the bodies of five women.

The residents of London Road had struggled for years with the soliciting and kerb-crawling that they frequently encountered. As Steve Wright, the occupant of No. 79, was arrested, charged and then convicted of the murders, the immediate community grappled with the media frenzy and what it meant to be at the epicentre of this tragedy.

London Road is a verbatim-theatre musical based on those events, with book and lyrics by Alecky Blythe, who recorded extensive interviews with the people of Ipswich, and music by Adam Cork, whose score is a response to the melodic and rhythmic speech patterns captured on those recordings.

The musical was developed by the National Theatre, London, and first performed there in the Cottesloe auditorium in April 2011. It won the 2011 Critics' Circle Award for Best Musical.

London Road is an experimental and challenging work which reveals the ways in which even the darkest experiences can engender a greater sense of our mutual dependence.

ACT TWO

Section One

Outside Ipswich Crown Court.

PRODUCER 1. Oh there you are. Are you actually going on?

FEMALE REPORTER. Well –

PRODUCER 1. I thought Claire said you weren’t –

FEMALE REPORTER. Oh –

PRODUCER 1. But that was when she was in there she said oh and tell her to do a rant.

FEMALE REPORTER. Oh right okay –

PRODUCER 1. They’re all starting to come out now.

Song – ‘The Five Counts of Murder’

MALE REPORTER 1. In October and December of last year.

FEMALE REPORTER (and two other reporters). Well this is the third time that Steve Wright has ap –

peared in Court but it’s the first time that he’s

formally entered a plea he arrived here at

Ipswich Crown Court, shortly after

nine o’clock, this morning but it wasn’t until

two o’clock this afternoon, that he

stood up, dressed in a

black suit, white shirt and

blue tie, and spoke,

clearly and confidently when he was

asked how he would plead to each of the

five counts of murder they were read out,

in this order. Er –

Well this is the third time that Steve Wright has ap –

peared in Court but it’s the first time that he’s

formally entered a plea he arrived here at

Ipswich Crown Court, shortly after

nine o’clock, this morning but it wasn’t until

two o’clock this afternoon, that he

stood up, dressed in a

black suit, white shirt and

blue tie, and spoke,

clearly and confidently when he was

asked how he would plead to each of the

five counts of murder they were read out,

in this order.

Tania Nichol,

Her body was the

second to be found although she was the

first woman to go missing.

Gemma Adams

Her body of course was the

first to be found that was

fa-found on the third of December.

Anneli Alderton

Whose body was found in Nacton

Paula Clennell, Annette Nicholls.

Their bodies were of course found in Levington just a few

hundred yards from each other we know that

all, women, were working

in the town, as prostitutes and all their

bodies were found naked. To

each one of those counts of murder

Steve Wright, er pleaded, not,

Guilty.

Timothy Langdale QC and Peter Wright QC who is the prosecuting er barrister here have been in discussions with the Judge about where and when, this trial should be held. In the end it was decided that if possible, it should stay here at Ipswich Crown Court and it will begin, on the fourteenth of January two thousand and eight.

PRODUCER 1. Seems okay?

FEMALE REPORTER. Yeah. Iss fine.

Westgate Social Club off London Road, Neighbourhood Watch Christmas Party.

JULIE. Pink one number seven.

ALL. Yeahhh.

JULIE. Next one – orange forty-seven.

RON. Yes.

ROSEMARY. Oohh. Yeah. Ha ha.

Beat.

TIM. Gotta be in it to win-it.

ROSEMARY. Ha – Yeah – ha. True.

RON. We’re (Beat.) happy the trial’s started but erm – we’re a bit (Beat.) worried about what sort of the reaction the media’s / going to have.

HELEN. / We’re worried about the media, yeah.

RON. Whether we’re gonna get them all camped out on the doorsteps again.

JAN. Yeah. I jus’ wish it had been in London. Jus’ – ya know. It’s bringin’ it all back.

JULIE. Blue number forty-two.

Beat.

JAN. Oooh that’s me.

JULIE. We’re betta now, betta now – this time – this time last year – it was – complete nightmare. But it’s (Beat.) but it’s creepy ya know it’s – I hope we find out where – where he killed them an’ I jus’ – I jus’ pray an’ hope that those girls weren’t killed in the flat. I really hope they weren’t.

JULIE (simultaneous). Pink one eight nine.

JAN (simultaneous). We were really, we’re really upset.

ALL (except for JULIE and JAN). Ohhhhhh- / hhhh.

JAN. / One eight nine?

I just wanted him – it to be all over

and to know were tho – were those prostitutes

killed in that house.

VARIOUS. He was only there for ten weeks.

Ten weeks.

Just a chance.

The one place in the – in the whole world

where he (Beat.) went to live ten weeks.

Could have bin anywhere!

Could have been next door to you!

Everybody would rather it all went away. (Beat.)

They must have sleepless nights.

I know I do.

JAN. It was awful. I was very upset. In the evening ya know I jus’ – it was winter like now, so I jus’ closed the curtains and uhm… It really made me very depressed and very low. I just feel it’s like, / it’s like a dream still. I – I don’t know, I don’t think I’ve really come to / (Beat.) to accept it. (Beat.) I (Pause) try to (Beat.) jusss… (Beat.) keep going.

TIM. / I think there’s a –

TIM. / I think…

JULIE. Right we got a blue one, two hundred and one.

Beat.

HELEN. Oh yes!

ALL. Wha-heyyyy!

ROSEMARY. You do get the odd uhm sightseer coming up. They come up in cars an’ they stop an’ take a photograph / which is (Beat.) really sick.

RON. / Yeah.

TIM. You – / you can actually see them.

JAN. / Nobody walks – nobody walks down that road – with – with (an’ I’m the same) without staring at that house

TIM. Even now. People still do it.

JAN. During the day...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Singing for Real by Alecky Blythe
• Saying in Tune by Adam Cork
• Original Production
• Characters
• The Residents of London Road
• Note on the Text
• Act One
• Act Two
• About the Authors
• Copyright and Performing Rights Information