Terraces
Terraces was originally written by Willy Russell in 1972, however, it was not filmed until 1992, when it was produced by the BBC for the schools television series Scene and broadcast in 1993, by which point the script had altered considerably from its original form. Terraces was directed by Rob Rohrer and also featured music by Willy Russell.
Cast
Danny – Mark Womack
Susan – Claire Hackett
Eddie – Paul Broughton
John – James McMartin
Joey – John Hutton
Joyce – Tine Malone
Terraces is a play about the residents of a Liverpool Street, who want to celebrate the success of their local football team as it qualifies for the big final by painting their houses in the team's colours, canary yellow.
Danny, who suggested this idea as a joke, unwittingly becomes the victim of mob rule and family betrayal when he refuses to conform. Forced to make a stand, he is faced with losing his family, his home and his friends.
As for tailoring his writing for a teenage audience, Russell says it just doesn’t work. “Its fatal writing down to kids. They soon suss you out. In my first draft of Terraces, I had all these TV scenes in the background from Yugoslavia, because I thought I ought to point up the message about conflict reflecting conflict in the film. And then I thought, sod it, kids can make their own comparisons. They don’t need me to do it for them.”
Christopher Middleton – The Sunday times 1996
“The intention at the time of writing was to get the audience to explore the idea of tribalism - the idea how seductive it can be to be part of a community where you don't have to stick your head out or stand up and be counted, and also get them to question whether that man is right to do what he does. I don't know who's side I'm on, but I was trying to write it in such a way to show that all those people have a particular point.”
From Willy Russell's notes on the play, written in autumn 1993 for Scene's Willy Russell season in Schedule
