By: Noëlle Renaude

Two friends head for the sea. They never make it. By the Way is a road trip through a changing landscape, which tries to follow the signs, but ultimately falls off the map. A combination of theatre, film and original music, it is a surreal journey through friendship. And through France.

By the Way: A Road Poem centres on the story of two friends, both of whom have recently lost their mothers. They decide to take their minds off things by going on a road trip. The ensuing journey is, on the surface, absurd and entertaining.
Everyone the two friends meet has lost their mother too - the waitress in the motorway cafe, the biker in search of a spot to scatter his mother’s ashes… The friends head for the sea, but end up in the mountains.

Underneath, however, run serious currents dealing with ultimate loss, and learning to a live in a world which has been suddenly changed forever. The play is about young male experience, at a particularly difficult time: the ‘coming of age’ signified by the death of one’s mother. It is about friendship, and about dealing with grief.

The aesthetic of ChoppedLogic’s production will draw from the‘road movie’ tradition, combined with the company’s taste for theatrical language and mixed media. A strong film element from filmmaker Tom Werber and cinematographer Sarah Cunningham will provide not just a backdrop, but a texture, an atmosphere, and a source of constantly changing stimulation: for the audience, and for the performers.

Dean Firth, whose work mixes poetry, music and sound, is creating an original score for the production.