Preview: the Long Road

 The Tab met with Director Keith Brown and his cast to talk about UEA Drama Soc’s latest show.

The Tab: So first off, why the Long Road?

Keith Brown: It’s a nice, short play that explores contemporary issues. It’s about a boy who gets stabbed in a kind of meaningless act of violence in London. It looks at the human aspects behind it and how the family are left in the wake. I suppose I thought that’d make for enjoyable parts, although obviously not in a gratuitous way.

The Tab: So is one of you getting stabbed on stage?

Keith: That actually happens before the play begins.

Sam Masters: It’s more about the aftermath and how people are reacting to it.

Keith: The main driving force is the mother, played by Sian. And then we’ve also got a brother and father… and Zoë is playing the killer.

The Tab: So it’s pretty heavy then?

Sam: It’s not the happiest play.

Zoë Seiffert: But it can actually be quite funny… with my part, I think the mother expects to see this killer but instead meets this, I don’t know. She’s a bit mental, but she’s just an eighteen year old girl.

Sam: It’s quite down to earth. It’s not some depressing look at grief, it’s how people would actually react.

That realism comes from the playwright’s research; Shelagh Stephenson visited prisons and met people whilst writing the Long Road. The play isn’t based on one real story, but drawn from a lot of different ones.

The Tab: Why did you choose to this show?

Keith: I was aware that DramaSoc were looking for a show to fill this space and I racked my brain for something fitting. It made my shortlist, I reread it, and I thought actually, it’ll be a pretty cool journey for everyone involved.

The Tab: And you’ve been rehearsing for three weeks now. How’s it going?

Keith: It’s going pretty well. It’ll run for an hour and fifteen or twenty minutes, so we’ve really been able to go over to it and give every scene some great detail.

The Tab: So finally, why are UEA students going to want to see the Long Road?

Keith: I think because it’s quite current. It’s something that’s in the public eye a lot, something very real. In some ways, I think people will be able to relate to it.

Sam: It’s darker than a lot of the stuff we’ve had so far this year… it stands out.

The Long Road looks like an absolute cracker, both dark and funny, and handled maturely. It’s definitely one to catch if you’re done for the semester or just need a night off, neglecting your studies.

The show will be staged in Union House room 1.28 (jazzed up a bit compared to usual…) on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday next week. Get your tickets online or buy them on the door. Attend the Facebook event for more information.