Hare puts the stuttering state of the trains down to the 1991 Conservative government's decision to privatize the industry, and his play is made up of first-hand accounts from politicians to passengers. Taken together with the Tricycle's edited transcription of the Hutton Enquiry Justifying War, which Hare has praised, they may constitute a mini revival of English political theatre. A co-production between Out Of Joint and the National Theatre, The Permanent Way follows its York premiere with a UK tour, taking in Birmingham, Exeter, Bath, Sheffield, Newcastle, Lincoln, Cornwall, Hatfield, London (at the NT), Leeds, Oxford and Liverpool. As well as theatres, it is scheduled to play less orthodox venues such as Sheffieldês Trades and Labour Club, and the Budehaven School in Cornwall.

Out Of Joint's founder Max Stafford-Clark directs, his first collaboration with Hare since 1975's Fanshen. The cast includes Flamina Cinque, Nigel Cooke, Matthew Dunster, Souad Faress, Sam Graham, Lloyd Hutchinson, Kika Markham, Bella Merlin and Ian Redford.