An example of another play performed at the Royal Court Theatre in 1986 was ‘Serious Money’ by Carol Churchill and the well-appreciated ‘My Mother Said I Never Should’ in 1987. Both differing from Road but similar in other ways i.e. some Brechtian devices were used in ‘My Mother Said I Never Should’ as too were in Road.
The material in the play is influenced by social upbringing and specific experiences in life. The characters are a reflection on their parents wherever or whoever they may be. Carol a character in the play seems to resent her upbringing by her Mother Brenda.
“Carol: How could I have let you bring me up. Fling me up more like, I was flung through the years.”
Road has a relevance to the modern day audience too because many of the things happening in the play still happen today. Due to the 24 hour drinking control binge drinking was very much an occurrence in the play. This binge drinking in Road still happens today although, in some rough areas in the north nowadays may resort to drugs too which did not occur in the play. There is the sex aspect of the play too which still happens today; many people are still living their lives promiscuously like Scullery. The character of Skin-Lad in the play becomes Buddhist and this is a religious belief not uncommon today therefore further relative to the modern-day audience. Conversely, the modern-day audience may not be able to relate to the clothing much in Road because generally now, there appears to be a uniform for the underclass with their tracksuit bottoms and all their other ensembles; whereas, the characters in Road had different clothes on.
In fact the fashion in the 80’s identified in the play is bold, bright and sharp. The women to show power in the workplace wore shoulder pads. They ‘power-dressed’ and it gave them more of a manly figure. Dressing corporately in suits etc was a regular occurrence in the 80s.
“Carol (to Louise): What’s up with you?
Louise: Me Shoulder pads slipped.”
The music in the 80s was very much rock-influenced with some electro pop interweaved. The examples of artists heard in the play were Michael Jackson, Madonna and the classic ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ by Judy Garland, which portrays the desire of the characters in the play to want to escape.
Going on in the country at the time was The Miners’ Strike whereby individuals were refusing to work as miners. However, this wasn’t really shown to be in the area located in the play. Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister and she had the method of working to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. The poor to become poorer was obviously not a good thing for the characters portrayed in Road. These lower class people appear to have stronger accents vocally as opposed to the higher classes.
There is an identifiable theme of unemployment also interspersed within the play. Clare and Joey both being made redundant in the play we can how some of the characters struggle to try to make sustainable living. These were the highest unemployment rates occurring at this time too. The fact Thatcher had made the bills go up obviously made it harder on the unemployed even further. There were no jobs in the North also, because Privatisation was occurring and the closing of the mines. Due to privatisation this resulted in hundreds of people finding them-selves unemployed, living on the dole in the 80’s.
The Falklands War was also a historical even which occurred at the time of Road. The character of Soldier in the play is shown to drink and I feel this could be to discard his memories from what he could have seen having been fighting. This is Soldier’s way of escaping into his own frame of mind in which many other characters in play do too. They all have the desire to want to escape from this ‘Road’ that they live at. The theme of escape is very much significant in the play as mentioned previously, and this is still relevant today as society always tires to better itself. The desperation of the characters is shown throughout the play; Brenda even has to scrounge money off her daughter Carol.
Overall, some social, cultural and historical aspects in the 80s and the play Road are evident still today. I feel those that did occur in the 80s were well illustrated within Road.
