Down the Road: True Crime Ethics Hit London Stage in 2025

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Down the Road: True Crime Ethics on Stage

When Down the Road first premiered in 1989, serial killers were an emerging cultural fixation. Now, in a world saturated with true crime podcasts, documentaries, and Netflix dramatizations, American Theatre of London’s upcoming revival of Lee Blessing’s play aims to interrogate society’s ongoing fascination with violent crime and the blurred ethics of its storytelling.

The play follows journalists Iris and Dan, a married couple commissioned to write a tell-all book on convicted serial killer Bill Reach. What begins as an investigative project soon descends into an unsettling moral reckoning, as the couple struggles to balance professional objectivity with the seductive pull of their subject. Where does journalism end and exploitation begin? And, more disturbingly, what does our own engagement with such stories reveal about us?

Bringing Down the Road Into the 21st Century

For director Tracy Mathewson, updating the play’s setting and context was essential in ensuring its questions remain relevant. “As tempting and nostalgic as it is to set a play from the 90s back in the 90s, this is a play about relationships: the characters’ relationships to gore (and by association the audience’s), their relationships to each other… I think the stickiness of those relationships is the essence of the play (it’s a morality play, after all) and so what I needed to do was update the context surrounding those relationships,” she explains.

“Cultural references, of course, but I do feel like every line of dialogue, every set piece, is an opportunity to bring the audience closer, to implicate them,” she adds. The production retains the play’s central question—“Do we dare to look?”—but reframes it in contemporary terms. “If the play wasn’t set now, the question would be ‘Did they?’ And I think that question is too safe,” Mathewson notes.

Staging Tension Without a Close-Up

One of the key challenges in staging a psychological thriller is creating a sense of unease and ambiguity without the close-ups that film and television rely on. “I’ve been making films for the last 10 years but before that my background was in theatre. The challenge in portraying the psychological tension and moral ambiguity here is: in theatre we don’t have the close-up. But what do we have? We have bodies in the space—three reverberant actors playing off each other; we have the space itself—meticulously designed by Katren Wood, we have sound, we have light… we have the audience,” says Mathewson.

The interplay of these elements will heighten the psychological entrapment at the core of the play. “The plan is to create moments of stasis and disruption: what happens between that is tension, and what happens after that is how we create meaning,” she continues.

The opening scene, she notes, is particularly crucial. “The moment those house lights go down—and even before—the pressure is on to draw the audience in, to capture their interest. This isn’t the Edinburgh Fringe where walk-outs are acceptable etiquette, but that doesn’t mean we can take their attention for granted.”

Walking the Ethical Tightrope

For actors Annelise Bianchini and Aaron Vodovoz, portraying the ethical dilemmas embedded in their journalist characters involves understanding their differing perspectives and approaches. “Each character has a different set of opinions, a different set of viewpoints, and a different set of tools/tactics to use when confronted by the opposing characters in the play. As actors, we must identify what these are for our characters and, perhaps, what our characters represent in the larger scheme,” Bianchini explains.

She highlights that the depth of Lee Blessing’s writing ensures that these ethical conflicts unfold gradually. “We must identify where and what the struggle is in every scene. The rest is in the writing. Less Blessing’s graceful and terrifying writing subtly allows the journalists’ ethical conflicts to unfold over the play.”

Another challenge will be the portrayal of Bill Reach, ensuring that his presence is compelling without tipping into uncritical fascination. This is an ongoing conversation in rehearsals.

Violence, Desensitization, and the Audience’s Role

A significant element of the production’s approach is its handling of violence. Mathewson reflects on her own initial reaction to the play: “I think we are so desensitised to violence in our culture—whether it be factual or fictional—that the first time I read Down the Road my initial reaction was ‘that’s it?’… That’s terrifying. My reaction was terrifying.”

Rather than amplifying the brutality of Reach’s crimes, the production instead aims to recalibrate how violence is perceived. “One approach might be to amplify the violence: how can we augment Reach’s crimes to make them grotesque enough to shock a 21st century audience? This isn’t an interesting question to me. Rather, I want to adjust the signal to noise ratio: any violence should be shocking. Any violence is grotesque. But we need to create a space where an audience member, a person, can feel it,” she says. “Dial down the noise. And then even the subtlest act can be brutal.”

Beyond the Stage: A Wider Conversation

American Theatre of London has partnered with CrimeCon UK to host post-show Q&A sessions featuring experts in journalism, psychology, and advocacy. “We hope this production adds to the conversation about the ethics of true crime storytelling by giving audiences the space to really think about their fascination with the genre and what it means,” says Vodovoz.

“The play itself challenges viewers to consider their own participation in true crime culture—why we’re drawn to it and what that says about society,” he continues. These discussions will feature crime journalist Amber Haque on ethical dilemmas in crime reporting, Luke Hart on how media can distort real-life tragedies, and social psychologist Melanie Haughton on society’s continuing fascination with true crime.

“By combining these conversations with the play, we’re hoping audiences will reflect on their own connection to true crime storytelling and start questioning whether it’s worth it—and what responsibility both creators and consumers have in shaping the way these stories are told,” Vodovoz adds.

At a time when the ethics of true crime storytelling are under scrutiny, Down the Road positions itself as part of that broader conversation. Rather than simply presenting another gripping psychological thriller, the production aims to interrogate the very nature of the genre, asking not just whether we should look, but what it means when we do.

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Down the Road runs at Playhouse East 4th-29th March 2025. For tickets and more, visit americantheatreoflondon.co.uk/whatson.

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