REVIEW: MISSING LANE MARKERS ON THE A47 by Toby Moran Mylett at Bread and Roses Theatre 7 – 18 January 2025

‘entertaining with lots of belly laughs and real heart’ ★★★★

This project is an outstanding showcase for new company Fifty Sixty Theatre featuring current Royal Central School London students and alumni. Their chosen play is Toby Moran Mylett’s new work MISSING LANE MARKERS ON THE A47 about strangers whose lives intertwine as they come across each other at an isolated spot on the A47. 

With three main story threads, there are plenty of opportunities for the large cast (nine players) to have significant stage time. The three stories are shown in a succession of alternating scenes. It’s black box theatre which puts the focus on the script, the skills of the actors and the soundscape (excellently designed by Ben Devlin and pulled off on the night by technician Roman Terrazas). 

The themes are set up nicely when a young woman crashes her car into a hedge, close enough to an isolated house to meet its sole inhabitant, a rather lonely soul clearly totally unused to conversing with other people. The theme of loneliness is picked up by another story line involving a road worker, a lost ‘cyclist’ (who doesn’t actually have a bicycle), and a driver (flagged down and made an unwilling saviour to the lost cyclist). The final story involves a woman who owns a pet iguana. Her x-boyfriend is at her house to take care of the creature while she’s away, but he accidentally lets the animal escape on the A47 which results in a series of consequences. Added to all this are a number of other vignettes and story lines, making quite a full 80 minutes of entertainment.

Entertaining it certainly is, with many belly laughs. These are largely achieved through the subtext and the wonderful physical theatre used by the company. It is impossible to say whether the body language is written into the script or it’s a choice made by the company. It shows that the actors have worked extremely hard to give nuance and depth to their characterisations. 

The story involving the iguana was a particular highlight of the night with all three actors doing a really fine job. Gaby Coleman who played Gloria, the iguana, had the audience in stitches with her silent emotional response to every situation and people she comes into contact with, giving the creature an inner life.  In her human roles she also excelled with very strong characterisations. Kudos also to Jessie Williams as the cyclist whose vulnerability had a certain cheeky charm and won hearts onto her side very quickly, it was easy to root for her. 

Here and there the storylines dipped a little, and perhaps need a little strengthening or judicious cutting, but overall, it is a tremendous start for this company who claim that they are ‘not-too-serious … comprised of slightly unusual artists with a debatable quantity of je ne sais quois’. They certainly provoke a feeling of joie de vivre with their sympathetic portrayals of loneliness and isolation. There is real heart in this in production. 

Keep in touch with the company

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/fiftysixtytheatre/ 

MISSING LANE MARKERS ON THE A47

Starring: Harry Bucukoglu, Sarah Chamberlain, Gaby Coleman, Áine Craig, Ben Devlin, Daniel Barney Newton, Cléo Roggenhofer, David Vayne, Jessie Williams 

Creative team: Toby Moran Mylett (playwright), Megan Schadler (producer), Anna Willmoth (production assistant), Ben Devlin (music), Cléo Roggenhofer (costumes), Roman Terrazas (technician).