Anglo/Australian play about the 7/7 London bombings

“Thursday” is a new play based on Gill Hicks, the Adelaide-born lady who lost both legs in the London tube bombings, and who has been such an inspiration with her bravery and dignity. It was with mixed feelings that I went along to the Canberra theatre to see this fascinating collaboration between the English Touring Theatre and Adelaide’s Brink Productions. None of us who were in London on 7 July 2005 will forget that day.

But this is not a play about terrorism per se. Nor does it attempt to tell Gill’s story precisely. Rather, it is a creative piece about human relationships and the response to adversity. It begins with a burst of manic activity as a group of ordinary citizens rush about their routine lives preparing for another “ordinary” day. They love and bicker, and some go off to the office quarrelled. Would people do that if they thought every day could turn out to be such an extraordinary one?

After the explosion there is a long, slow period as the individual aftermath of the tragedy begins to sink in. Then the scene transforms again into frenzied activity in the Emergency Ward at St Thomas’ Hospital, as the lives of victims, harried staff and unsuspecting day patients intersect with each other in a complex series of interactions. We see chaos and confusion but, above all, compassion. Finally the pace slows down again as the characters gradually come to terms with the long term impact on their lives.

It was a powerful, thought-provoking piece. Personally I found the opening scenes too quickfire and confusing to really establish the characters in the audience’s mind before the tragedy struck. And for most of us, a terrible incident like this raises the question “Why”, which the play doesn’t attempt to address, but which many of us in the FCO have to work on.

But it was a handsomely acted piece and, chatting to the half British/half Australian cast afterwards, I was struck by their comments about how smoothly they had worked together in developing and performing the play. Another example of the great cultural familiarity between the two countries.