New Dawn Fades
Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham | 30th Sept 2025
From above, the near sell-out procession of devotees winding their way to the Everyman Theatre must have looked like a Lowry urban landscape. For this was the first night of the latest tour of New Dawn Fades, a theatrical interpretation of Joy Division’s emotional story…
Accordingly, as you would expect, the stage was sparse and bleak. Save for musical instruments, amps and transit cases – empty. The suggestion and inference being that music was central to this narrative. The wide screen at the back was employed for images and visual reminders. After all we are a nation of voyeurs.
“Mr. Manchester”, Anthony H Wilson (Brian Gorman), entrepreneur and catalyst narrated throughout the play with a big red book format introducing the players, the historic asides and the accidental developments as they happened. The actor – not unlike Wilson – was not afraid to adlib and play with the crowd: “I love a good audience.” The play is not without humour and there was a factory- line of jokes throughout the play.
The audience enjoyed the knockabout quality of the play. The central characters of the band were presented as the sum of their parts. Peter Hook (Gaz Hayden) played as a belligerent firebrand content to tell everyone to F-off; Bernard Sumner (Garient Lyons)as a more introspective and empathetic character; Stephen Morris (Jack McGary) was portrayed as the reserved drummer happy to hide behind his drums. Consequently, the musical scuttlers were compelling on stage. Of course, the manager Rob Gretton (Kivan Dene) was content to tell everyone to F-off,before taking scuttling to a whole new level!
For the benefit of the men making up the fourth wall, so we could nod and smile along knowingly, the play included important reference points: the cold band members fighting over a blanket in the back of the Salford hire van; the drummer playing his drums on the roof when recording the album; the notable geographical difference between Salford and Manchester. And like A. H. Wilson I too was at the Free Trade Hall in ‘76 to witness the Sex Pistols live. Aged 10 and a half, I bunked off school and walked the 150 miles on my own (sic).
The performance of Shadowplay, by the cast allowed the actor, Josh Lonsdale, playing Ian Curtis, the band’s singer, lyricist and soul to excel in his physical portrayal. His disjointed-marionette dance routine convincingly capturing the dervish that was Curtis live. The actor’s physicality manifested itself again when he was required act out the singer’s epileptic fits. The harrowing nature of one fit was amplified by a blacked-out stage and the sound of his shoes & limbs hammering on the stage – bringing forth a tangible silence to the rows of onlookers.
The physical depiction was not all Josh Lonsdale had to offer.
Angular faced actor Lonsdale played the role of Curtis with a quiet intensity that was palpable at times. The lead singer’s quixotic character was explored with the language of the everyday. His inner vulnerability exposed and presented for all to appreciate. Compelling.
The relationship of Ian Curtis and his teenage bride Debbie Curtis (Lauren Greenwood) was presented with gravity and sympathy. The role of Mrs. Curtis played with a genuine affection for her husband and with a terrace-row defiance. Tellingly, their relationship was captured in the “call and response” reciting of the lyrics of Love Will Tear Us Apart. Moreover, the denouement of Debbie Curtis returning to 77 Barton street and calling out her husband’s name, to then discover the truth was sobering. The silence in the scene amplified the solemnity of the moment.
After the encore and with a quizzical look, before lifting the Vox Phantom from its stand, Lonsdale once again summoned the inner Curtis and offered a rendition of Love Will Tear Us Apart. Consequently, it was wholly apparent that music was central to the story.
Walking back alone without ceremony, on that bleak autumnal evening through Sandford park, the scene reminiscent of Lowry’s “lonely landscapes,” with shadows and shapes appearing under the half-moon – it was not difficult to see how place, life and art intertwine.
By: Swilgate Scuttler