Damien Tracey tells Amie Mulderrig how he was affected by the terror attack on London and how it influenced him to write his play Warde Street

On July 7, 2005, 52 people were mercilessly killed in a series of co-ordinated terror attacks in London.

The blasts, carried out by suicide bombers during the morning rush hour on trains and buses, further claimed 800 casualties, making the assaults the UK’s worst terrorist incident since the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. 

On the surface, London as a whole appeared to be resilient – by the evening, there were reports of people bemoaning train and bus delays, cancellations and overcrowding –   but this was an attack which resonated throughout the country. 

Particularly for writer and actor Damien Tracey, who has written a play, Warde Street, inspired by the events of that day. 

“The morning of the bombings I was flying to Ireland to surprise my mum for her birthday,“ says Damien, 32. “I was going through the barrier at Liverpool Street and all these alarms started going off. And as it’s London, you pay no notice, so I got on the train to Stansted. 

 “At the airport, staff were trying to work out why half the flight hadn’t checked in, so everyone had their mobiles out, desperately trying to find out what was going on. I had five voicemails from friends who knew I was travelling, all asking if I was OK. And that was when it started to hit that something had happened. 

“All we could find out was that there had been a disruption to public transport – a power surge – people were saying. 

“It was only when I got to Ireland, switched on the television did I see what had happened. The terrible images on the television screen of the destruction that had been caused, the lives that had been lost and how lucky I had been not to have been caught up in any of that. 

“When I returned to London, I thought the place would’ve changed, that everything would be different because of these attacks. But it was the same. It kept on moving. 

“When I was at the memorial service in Trafalgar Square, all these politicians and TV stars kept talking about how resilient London is, the one London, the fact we’ve all got to keep moving. 

“But there was one thing on my mind: What if we can’t forgive? “

It was a theme that would stay with Damien for some time. So much so, that five years later, it formed the basis of Warde Street, a play which focuses on the story of Eddie, an ordinary man, whose life is ripped apart when his wife is killed in the London bombings. 

“I kept thinking, if I had lost a loved one in those circumstances, could I forgive?“ says Damien. “I don’t think I could. 

“These people didn’t get to say goodbye to their loved ones. They weren’t going to Afghanistan or Iraq, they were getting on the Tube to go to work. They were expected home and they didn’t come back.

“So this play asks a lot of questions. It asks how do you forgive? How do you move on? What happens if you can’t forgive? 

“I can’t promise it will provide the audience with answers, but it will get them questioning their own feelings on forgiveness.“