Back in 2006 actor and journalist Alecky Blythe interviewed the residents of a small Ipswich Road about the dreadful fact that a serial killer lived amongst them. The murderer, Stephen Wright, was responsible for killing five young prostitutes. Prostitutes that may of walked , London Road, the road on which he in fact lived.
The transcripts of Blythe's interviews were a powerful testament to how the prostitutes were viewed by flawed but decent blue collar folk and underlined how the residents of London Road joined together to upgrade and beautify their much maligned street.
Adam Cork, listened to these recordings and set the words verbatim to music. Every pause, every sentence's cadence was kept within the score and the resulting Musical is like nothing I have ever seen before
Its an unsettling, and at times incredibly moving experience which weaves together two incredibly strange stories. One is the resurrection from shame by the ordinary residents of London Road and the other is the ghostly survival of the area's prostitutes, women that were generally despised by the residents themselves.
Olivia Coleman and Paul Thornley standout of the ensemble cast and Anitia Dobson turns up in a brief but necessary comic role as a neighbour who gets tangled up with her shopping bags in the police tape cordon ( a wonderfully clever slap stick moment)
London Road is somewhat of a strange experiment in film making, and is not an easy watch.
But it's a powerful film that packs an incredible punch in the guts
8/10
The transcripts of Blythe's interviews were a powerful testament to how the prostitutes were viewed by flawed but decent blue collar folk and underlined how the residents of London Road joined together to upgrade and beautify their much maligned street.
Adam Cork, listened to these recordings and set the words verbatim to music. Every pause, every sentence's cadence was kept within the score and the resulting Musical is like nothing I have ever seen before
Thornley and Coleman ( centre)
Its an unsettling, and at times incredibly moving experience which weaves together two incredibly strange stories. One is the resurrection from shame by the ordinary residents of London Road and the other is the ghostly survival of the area's prostitutes, women that were generally despised by the residents themselves.
Olivia Coleman and Paul Thornley standout of the ensemble cast and Anitia Dobson turns up in a brief but necessary comic role as a neighbour who gets tangled up with her shopping bags in the police tape cordon ( a wonderfully clever slap stick moment)
London Road is somewhat of a strange experiment in film making, and is not an easy watch.
But it's a powerful film that packs an incredible punch in the guts
8/10