BRITAIN IN THE 1980’S

‘I feel like England’s forcing the brain out me head. I’m sick of it. Sick of it all. People
reading newspapers: ‘EUROVISION LOVERS’, ‘OUR QUEEN MUM’, ‘MAGGIE’S
TEARS’, being fooled over and over again.’ Joey, from Road

The early 1980’s saw Britain in the grip of recession. Miners clashed with police in
strikes against pit closures, riots broke out in several cities, stock markets suffered
one of the biggest collapses in history and Britain dispatched a task force to
recapture the Falkland Islands.

This was the backdrop to Jim Cartwright’s play. Road captured what it was like to
be living in an industrial town ravaged by the economic policies of Margaret
Thatcher.

TRY TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

 What did Road mean to an audience in 1986?

 What does Road mean for an audience of today?

 Why do the youngest characters, Joey and Claire, have no hope? Is this the same
for young people today?

 How are the old people in Road treated? Is this the same today?

 Identify in Road the characters that represent unemployment, the young, the
treatment of the old

 What are the social, economic and political parallels with Road in contemporary
Britain? Search local and national newspapers of today that could still be
relevant to the characters and their situations in Road

 Do you think Boris’s Britain is as divided as the Thatcher-devastated world of

Road?
 CULTURAL CONTEXT

- Can you find any iconic bands from the 1980’s whose lyrics may link to key themes and
ideas within Road? (For example ‘That’s Entertainment’ by The Jam)

- What specific influence did Northern (and particularly Manchester) bands have upon the
music scene in the 1980’s? (see above album covers). How did they compare with other pop
music of the day?

- What was fashionable in 1986? Can you find any images?

- What other areas of popular culture were prevalent in the mid 1980’s? Think of TV,
Cinema, Literature

- What was a YUPPIE? How did they contrast with the characters in Road?

- What was the most popular form of theatre in the 1980’s? How did writers such as Jim
Cartwright rebel against this?

- The first production of Road was at The Royal Court Theatre in London – why is this venue
so iconic? Why might it have been the perfect place to stage a play like Road?

- Can you find any others playwrights/ writers who were producing gritty, naturalistic drama
set outside of London? Do they have anything in common with Jim Cartwright?

- Joey goes on hunger strike in the play – why was this relevant to the UK in the 1980’s?
- What was Thatcherism? How did it impact Britain economically? Did ‘privatisation’ have an
impact upon the country as a whole?