Down The Road, a play written by Lee Blessing, and directed by Tracy Mathewson, is showing at Playhouse East next month.
It is a co-production of the American Theatre of London and ADAMA Entertainment. This production marks the play’s first UK revival since 2003.
“A true-blue journalist couple is hired to interview Bill Reach, a young, sadistic serial killer, for his tell-all book. With dreams of starting their own family and hopes of this being their big break, Iris and Dan are drawn closer into Reach’s chilling yet alluring orbit and unwittingly take their work home with them.
When grisly tales captivate and shock value sells, how will Dan and Iris navigate the fine line between journalistic integrity and glorifying the actions of Bill Reach?”
Where: Playhouse East, Kingsland Road E8 4DG.
When: 4-29 Mar (Tue-Sat, 7.30pm).
Ticket link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/down-the-road-by-lee-blessing-tickets-1118713003709
Aaron Vodovoz, who plays Dan, and is also a producer, stopped by to tell us more about Down The Road, his character, and changes that have been made to the play since its 1991 debut.
Tell me a bit about Down The Road, and what audiences should expect.
Down the Road centres around a journalistic couple, Iris and Dan, who are hired to interview Bill Reach – a young, sadistic serial killer who has admitted to killing 19 women – in order to write his tell-all book. The story develops over a span of several weeks between two locations – the couple’s motel room, and the prison’s interview room.
As the weeks of interviews pass, the couple realise that what they hoped would be their big break is turning into an unsettling descent into darkness. As his confessions grow more disturbing, Iris and Dan begin to question whether they are in control of the narrative or merely pawns in Reach’s own game.
It’s exciting to have a new venue in East London. What’s the best thing about being in this space?
It sure is! The best thing about the space is the flexibility and intimacy it offers. As the venue is still in its development stages, it has allowed us to be flexible with where we seat the audience and how the ‘stage’ is divided within the space itself. We’re also aiming to blur the separation between audience and performers, which this beautiful space allows.
This is the debut production for the American Theatre of London. What’s the plan going forward and where can people find you online?
You can find us at americantheatreoflondon.co.uk. Our goal going forward is to continue producing American-written plays, focusing on both newly written works and established pieces that are less well-known to London audiences.
Each production will feature a minimum of 50% American creatives, ensuring an authentic American storytelling experience. Even further down the road, we’d like to bring over international plays with authentic cast and crew to perform them.
The play has been reset in the 21st century. Was that an easy decision to make, and has it drawn out new facets in the story?
To a certain extent, it was a no-brainer. Resetting the play in the 21st century makes the journalists’ experiences more relevant and relatable to today’s audience rather than feeling like a distant past event. By doing so, we hope the audience sees the story as a contemporary issue rather than something confined to the 1980s.
This shift also highlights how the play’s themes – our fascination with true crime and its ethical complexities – are not just remnants of the past but have evolved into an everyday cultural phenomenon that people can recognize in their own interests and surroundings.
Do you think our collective obsession with true crime is good or bad?
That is a great question, and I personally think it depends on how we engage with true crime. There is a natural curiosity about true crime that is within our nature as humans, which is not necessarily negative. However, if it is being exploited for monetisation, for the glorification of criminals, then I definitely think that’s bad.
We will have 3 Q&A sessions exploring questions just like that. Amber Haque, a crime journalist, to discuss the ethical dilemmas of reporting on crime. Luke Hart who has lived through a personal tragedy and seen the media twist his story into something unrecognisable, and Melanie Haughton a social psychologist, to explore why society is so drawn to true crime and what responsibility the media has in shaping that fascination.