A pleasing and enjoyable drama for lovers of London’s tube network
The London Transport Museum’s underground theatre was a new venue for me, and the perfect place for Andy Burden’s play, The Truth About Harry Beck. which explores the life of the man behind London’s iconic and ubiquitous tube map (although Harry would correct us here, “it’s not a map, it’s a schematic diagram!”)
Burden’s show tells us the story of an obscure TfL employee, working in the 1930s, and how he came to invent, and persuade the transport network to adopt, his design for the tube map. The play follows the lives of Harry Beck (Simon Snashall) and his wife Nora (Ashley Christmas), with a well-judged balance of the personal and the historical events at play, as we trace the evolution of one of London’s most well-loved and widely recognised symbols.
There’s a cosy domesticity about the performance, with the whole thing feeling like it could be something out of the world of Paddington. It is meticulously researched, with a well-developed understanding of Beck’s wife, Nora’s, influence on his work. We follow the two through several challenges and setbacks, set out in the play as ‘the three great rejections of Harry Beck’. There are issues of copyright, institutional blindness, redundancy, as well as moments of epiphany and joy.
There are cleverly worked scenes to involve audience participation, testing our tube network knowledge. One of the best scenes of the play sheds light on how the colours for each tube line were chosen, as we see Harry and Nora criss-crossing ribbons from Nora’s sewing basket across their living room, mapping interchanges.
The play rides rather more on the fascination of its subject matter, and its enduring relevance for all Londoners today, rather than distinguishing itself by its script or its acting. Admittedly, it would take a great deal of dramatic flair to turn what was a rather ordinary life into a compelling piece of theatre.
There is great scope for this kind of drama, with a huge explosion in material, both written and otherwise, on the experience of inhabiting urban spaces, and cult followings of public transport networks, London’s in particular. I hope to see the museum making the most of these opportunities, and look forward to seeing what direction they will take their theatre next.
Enjoyed the play and your review. Thought it could have benefitted from the domesticity being simply and creatively broken up with a commuting and workplace scene. Even if just sound effects and lighting without stage set up changes. Surely some influences came from his work and use of the transport network.