REVIEW: The Truth about Harry Beck by Andy Burden, Cubic Theatre, London Transport Museum 14 Sept – 10 Nov 2024

'The diagram trumps the drama' ★★☆☆☆

The London Underground map is a design icon. It manages through a simple graphic treatment of colour coded lines to distil the complexities of a spaghetti-like structure into pure communication. It has guided millions on their way and been the template for similar concepts worldwide. The map – or diagram – was not the result of a computer programme or AI, but a labour of love, worked on over decades by one man, Harry Beck, now the subject of a play, written and directed by Andy Burden of the Natural Theatre Company.

The Truth About Harry Beck is primarily educational, the story of the creation of the London Underground diagram through chronological fact disclosure, it's “the tricky journey of a simple thing.”  A two hander, Harry played by Simon Snashall and his wife, Nora played by Ashley Christmas, address the audience directly and each other, as they tell their story of a life together and the creation of this essential navigational tool and revered piece of visual iconography. 

The play sounds like vintage Radio 4 or a BBC sitcom. The characters on stage could be from One Foot in the Grave or Open All Hours. An ordinary, suburban couple in cardigans and tank tops, they meet – in this narrative - while both working for London Transport. Christmas offers more range as she multi-roles as various bosses with regional dialects. Shasnall is more one note, fitting for an individual obsessed with a single diagram across decades. But the star of the show is the map, which remains narratively centre stage and at the forefront of the characters' minds throughout. 

The Truth About Harry Beck is likely to draw lovers of London Transport and diagram nerds but dramatically, is a bit of a lost opportunity. Sound and lighting -which is very flat - could have been more effectively deployed; the human drama and underlying conflict, are all neatly tidied away. We learn the couple can’t have children, that Harry is a blinkered workaholic, and that he sold the copyright for his design for five guineas thus losing vast sums of money. To add insult to injury, someone else’s name went on the map for a long time which must have been soul-destroyingly galling.  Nora is long suffering, supportive, mothering to the detriment of her own health; her passivity is frustrating. There’s great potential here for human drama and conflict but this is downplayed to foreground the diagram’s genesis and evolution. 

The title suggests there might be a big reveal, but The Truth simply means lots of facts as Harry himself discloses at the start of the play: “I draw a map, and nothing happens.” We learn lots of contextual information about when different things were invented, from lawnmowers to Swarfega, Cats Eyes to Nylon. Inspired from Beck’s time in the Signals Department drawing circuit boards, the iconic map takes three-dimensional shape using coloured ribbons from Nora’s sewing box, a playful moment that invites interactive audience participation who can test their knowledge of what station should be where. It’s fifty years since Beck passed away and you can find this homage to the man and his mind at London Transport’s Cubic Theatre in Covent Garden. That’s the dark blue line.

Box Office Cubic Theatre - The Truth About Harry Beck Tickets and Dates (seetickets.com)

Photo credit: Mark Douet