"I can't imagine why you want to write a play about the railways. I'm sure, as you say, there are a lot of people eager to talk, but are they actually the kind of people you want to talk to?"
The Permanent Way is a stage play by David Hare, first performed in 2003. Composed of interview material and quotes from real people, edited and arranged into play form, it looks at the privatisation of the British railway system and some of the fatal crashes that followed.— High-Powered Treasury Thinker
Most of the characters are only identified by nicknames or descriptions of their role (e.g. 'A British Transport Policeman' or 'Passenger 7'), even when that role makes the real person's identity easy to discover (e.g. 'A Managing Director of Railtrack').
Due to the nature of the play, many of the associated tropes are drawn from Real Life and merely highlighted on the stage.
The Permanent Way provides examples of:
- Audio Adaptation: A radio drama version was produced by The BBC in 2003, with the original cast and director.
- By-the-Book Cop: Played with. The British Transport Policeman ignores the manual when his team's identifying and moving the dead after the Southall crash, because the manual doesn't seem fit for purpose when handling a rail disaster on that scale. He also has a scribe record all of the decisions made on the day. At a later date he then rewrites the manual, trying to ensure that next time it's more useful.
- Documentary: Somewhere on the borderline between a documentary and a Dramatization. All dialogue is in the form of direct quotations, but they've been edited and arranged, with the interviewees names deliberately omitted.
- Dramatis Personae: The usual list of characters is presented at the start of the play script, but almost all of the characters are identified by their role or a nickname.
- Descriptions such as "A Leading Entrepreneur" and "A Bereaved Mother" are used, even if anyone familiar with the events will know who the interviewee was, or if names are actually mentioned in dialogue.
- The Permanent Way Gang are identified by the names written on their helmets, and mention that this is how it works in Real Life as well. Although Rustin' Hoffman mentions that this might match someone's real name, that's not how it works for most of them.
- John Prescott and Lord Cullen are the only two people clearly identified by name.
- Dramatization: Somewhere on the borderline between a dramatization and a Documentary. All dialogue is in the form of direct quotations, but they've been edited and arranged, with the interviewees names deliberately omitted.
- The Ghost: Playwright David Hare himself. Due to the structure of the play, we get one side of most conversations. The dialogue is largely made up of direct answers to his questions, and he's sometimes mentioned by name. But he's never represented onstage.
- I Was Never Here: At the end of his interview, the High-Powered Treasury Thinker repeatedly states that, as far as he's concerned, the meeting (and interview) didn't happen.
- Joke Name Tag: The Permanent Way Gang's helmets carry a range of nicknames, from Rustin' Hoffman to Doghole, Stormin' Norman and Piemuncher, and at work they are Only Known by Their Nickname. Some, such as JH and Sven, might be related to someone's real name. But even if they are, that's not guaranteed to be the person who now wears that helmet.
- Jurisdiction Friction: As retold by the British Transport Policeman, there was an initial clash between the British Transport Police (BTP) and the Met regarding access to the crash site after the Southall train disaster. BTP took a blunt approach to resolving it.British Transport Policeman: I said to this boy, 'Take your fucking boots off the table, I'm in charge of this investigation and I'll decide who goes down there'. He said, 'Fair enough guv, got the message.'
- Just Following Orders: Directly discussed by the Investment Banker, just after the play mentions the Hatfield crash and talks about how privatisation stressed the infrastructure beyond its limits.Investment Banker: Do I personally feel guilty? Which answer do you want me to give? The Nuremberg defence? 'I was only obeying orders.'
- Legacy Character: A discussed variant. In practical terms, the Permanent Way Gang are Only Known by Their Nickname at work - and that nickname is the Joke Name Tag on their helmet, which may get handed on when the original owner leaves. Catweasel states that he turned up and took over someone else's name (and helmet) when he first started, bypassing the introductory safety course as his predecessor had already done it.
- Loyal to the Position: Discussed, in a Real Life context. The nature of the job means that Civil Servants can be completely committed to a piece of legislation but also utterly convinced that it's folly. Politicians set policy, Civil Servants simply make it happen.
- Punny Name: Rustin' Hoffman, who takes his work nickname from the name written on his helmet, is a funny Shout-Out to Dustin Hoffman.
- Shout-Out:
- The Ladbroke Grove crash happens during the enquiry into the previous Southall disaster enquiry, which prompts the Campaigning Solicitor to compare the situation to Groundhog Day.
- Two of the Permanent Way Gang have work nicknames (taken from their helmet names) that double as shout outs.
- Rustin' Hoffman is a Punny Name reference to Dustin Hoffman.
- Stormin' Norman is a direct reference to U.S. Army general Norman Schwarzkopf, widely known by that nickname after his role as coalition commander in The Gulf War.
- Title Drop: The play script introduces the track maintenance team as the Permanent Way Gang, but the only reference within the play itself is later in the scene, when Catweasel talks about the job:Catweasel: Bloke from McAlpines comes up to me, says, 'Call this number if you ever want to work on the permanent way.'
- Understatement: The Senior Civil Servant mentions how one colleague got so furious with a Treasury representative that he physically picked him up, slammed him against a wall, swore at him, and threatened he'd never work in Whitehall again. The anecdote ends with a very British, very understated comment:Senior Civil Servant: Now if you know the Civil Service, this is quite unusual.
- Who Would Want to Watch Us?: Subverted. After the prologue, Part Two opens with the High-Powered Treasury Thinker dismissing the idea of a play about railways as boring, pouring scorn on the idea that it might work. However, it's also framed in a way that presents him as out-of-touch - especially after the prologue's montage of views and mention of fatal crashes.High-Powered Treasury Thinker: People who want to talk about railways are by definition nerds. If there's a play in there I'm amazed.
- You Are Number 6: A bleak variant. The Bereaved Mother states that she doesn't think she'd have started campaigning if her son, killed in the Southall crash, wasn't simply referred to as "Body No 6".
