LONDON ROAD (Rufus Norris). 92 minutes. Opens Friday (November 18). See listing. Rating: NNNNN
If Edgar Wright and Clio Barnard had a movie baby, it would be London Road.
A vividly cinematic adaptation of Alecky Blythe and Adam Cork’s experimental musical about the fallout from the Suffolk Strangler murders, it’s barely recognizable as a stage play – which is doubly amazing, given that director Rufus Norris also helmed the original 2011 National Theatre production.
Olivia Colman leads a chorus of Ipswich residents who unwittingly lived on the same street as Steve Wright, convicted in 2008 of killing five sex workers. The story follows the community for a year or so after the discovery of the last victim, creating musical numbers out of verbatim interviews with the residents and the media that flocked to cover the story.
And as you may have heard at TIFF last year, Tom Hardy has a small but key role, and he does indeed sing… after a fashion.
