One of the major buildings surrounding Covent Garden is the London Transport Museum, beloved by locals and international tourists alike, especially as kids go for free and most entry tickets are annual passes automatically. The colloquially called TfL Museum is also a popular event space for corporate fairs but that it has its own theatre is new to me.
The Truth About Harry Beck is the story of the inventor of the circuit board-inspired diagram we know today as London‘s tube map, voted as one of the most beautiful designs of the millennium and without doubt used by millions of passengers every single day. In 75 minutes we not only meet Harry / Henry Beck (played very sweetly by Simon Snashall whoI remember having seen in Summer Street at the Waterloo East Theatre) but also his devoted wife Nora (also appearing in all other roles: Ashley Christmas). Having met at the employee choir in the 1920s, we follow their marriage and especially his career at London Transport for the next decades.
While London’s Underground network expands and expands, Beck’s idea of creating a map based on passenger needs and convenience (focussing on where to change tubes to get from A to B) rather than geographic accuracy is maturing. Initially rejected for its unfamiliar radicality but very quickly loved for its clear ease-of-use practicality fitting in every pocket while being aesthetically pleasing, the London Underground Tube map is an instant hit in the 1960s and still nowadays a undeniable part of the capital’s identity. The museum‘s shop is proof of this, and the fact, that probably everyone in the audience tonight has used it several times on their journey here.
Harry Beck is a well-meaning, kind man, hundred percent dedicated to evolving his masterpiece with each tube line extension and to empower Londoners and visitors equally. The audience clearly enjoys his endless puns about graphics of any kind, his appreciation of fonts, symmetries and meaningful visualisation: Everyone would like a colleague like him. But neither credits, glory or meaningful monetary rewards were granted to him during his lifetime – having signed off his brainchild with best intentions, it took until 2006 until his name appeared on the bottom of the Tube Map. This month, Mr Beck died 50 years ago and it is time for his story to be shared, not only because he was cheated out of any rewards (“…and he is not even a woman” I hear someone whisper in the audience) but because his legacy is still an every day style icon to stay, as accessible for everyone as it has been since its release.
**** out of 5 stars
Written and directed by Andy Burden
Playing until 5 January 2025, tickets from £20
Sadie takes the Stage 
You would think he would have been rewarded.
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