Everyone hates trains at the moment. They are ridiculously expensive, delayed, unreliable, and uncomfortable. Despite our common hatred of trains bordering on the comical, the initial response to hearing about a play based on the privatisation of the National Rail is "dull". It's not an easy sell, unless your audience are overtly political, socialist and over sixty. Incredibly, David Hare transcends such scepticism, including his own, to create a drama that is entertaining and pertinent. The Permanent Way tracks the history of the railways from 1991 when the Conservative government decided to privatise them, right through a series of rail accidents and into the present day in which the current government has done nothing to undo the damage.

If you see a train crash on the news you may be horrified but your mind is quickly distracted by the next story and your mood changes with the new bulletin. The theatre affords a more meditative experience as you dwell in that emotion and reflect on that one accident. You trace the disaster, its harrowing consequences and the causes of the devastation. The Permanent Way invites the audience to truly engage with the issues and emotions that it presents, and this is the sphere of art. Whilst still documenting facts, theatre does more than journalism can. Writer David Hare is responsible for this magnificent piece of political theatre and was keen to point out, when speaking at the National Theatre, that he works "like an artist, not like a journalist". Much of the play is documentary and speeches are often directly lifted from transcripts. At other times the playwright has sought to express what the interviewee meant but failed to effectively articulate. These are liberties that only an artist can take when in pursuit of truth.

The original idea came from Max Stafford-Clark, one of the leading lights of British theatre, former artistic director of the Royal Court and current Director of Out of Joint. He then approached David Hare, the political writer of our generation still basking in the success of "Stuff Happens" which ran at the National Theatre in London telling the story of the Iraq war. Hare was wary of the project and understandably dubious about how such politics would translate to the stage. Yet Out of Joint work as an ensemble and Hare sat in on interviews that the company conducted with rail workers, bankers, civil servants, directors of train companies, the bereaved and the survivors of train crashes. A story started to emerge, an emotional drama, and Hare was impassioned to set the testimonies down for the record. The issue was huge and deserved public consideration.

Watching the British get frustrated about the embarrassing nature of our rubbish railways on stage is entertaining enough. Hare's point is that while everyone knows its failings nobody does anything about it. Our national public service was sold off to bankers and private investors, divvied up between shareholders, and we were robbed. Why isn't anyone angry about it? The government pay out more money now to the private companies in subsidies than they ever did when it was nationalised.

Hare points at the craziness of a system in which one profit-driven company is in charge of the track itself, and another is in charge of the trains. There is no over-riding responsibility anywhere and this partly explains the appalling treatment of crash victims and their bereaved families. The Permanent Way gives voice to these victims as companies determine the value of the deceased's life. It can be pretty grim viewing, but Out of Joint play the characters with integrity. The company are astonishing in their talent, all strong actors, and they represent a vast range of characters, including some amusing impressions of Richard Branson and John Prescott.

Hare has described The Permanent Way as 'moral' in that it sets two groups against each other, those that behave honourably and those that behave dishonourably. Victims from the crashes and concerned members of society have informed themselves about the railways and are left reeling at the nonsensical nature of the proposals. Back in 1995, Blair described the privatisation of the railways as "a hotchpotch of private companies linked together by a gigantic bureaucratic paperchase of contracts" and prophesied "as the public learn more about the chaos and the cost, their anger at this folly will grow". David Hare's theatre certainly offers such an education, and yet the Labour government have not changed the situation. I was incensed by the play and am still fuming.

Issues always seem abstract and politics irrelevant, until they are personalised. A family friend of my own was involved in the Paddington rail crash and he was severely injured, suffering severe facial burns and very nearly losing his life. It has taken several years of therapy for him to overcome the trauma of the accident and he has had distressing battles with insurance companies over legal issues. He is an example known to me of the humanity behind the politics.

The Permanent Way reminded me of the importance and power of the theatre. It is our ancient democratic institution. Its immediacy is its vitality and life. You sit in a room where other human beings tell you a story, make it seem real and teach you something. There is a wonderful shared experience and sense of empowerment. You feel the energy and passion of the actors in the room and it is a force for solidarity and change. You don't have to be socialist to be annoyed about railways, and you don't need to be a luvvie to appreciate the power of good theatre. The Permanent Way has been a sell-out success since its premiere in November 2003, and this revival is proof of its popularity.

Like all good art, the play has been interpreted at many levels and can easily be seen as a metaphor for our current management culture and the constant deferral of responsibility. American audiences are said to have cried, interpreting the railways as a metaphor for AIDS. The drama is about groups of people going through trauma, asking big questions, becoming informed and trying to penetrate intimidating systems so as to do the honourable thing. Certainly the play celebrates the triumphs of the campaigners that have fought to understand a complex system.

Out of Joint itself embodies the revolutionary spirit in the very decision to stage such a play. Some of the company worked as uniformed ticket collectors on trains and others observed track gangs. As a result of such detailed research, director Max Stafford-Clark feels it is fair to say that his actors know as much about the railways as the politicians.

The railways have traditionally been a source of British pride as a symbol of collective achievement. A group of railway men founded the Permanent Way institution in 1884 to advance track knowledge, and they are a central tragedy of the story. Once you privatise something, you no longer have common ownership of it and you can't take pride in it. A crap railway system is indicative of a crappy society, and this returns to the metaphorical nature, or at least the expansive nature, of the play.

Apathetic Britain needs a wake up call and the theatre is a vibrant part of this call to arms. We need writers like David Hare, and companies like Out of Joint and venues like the National Theatre. This is the political theatre of our generation, the issues of our times, the property of our society and taxes. David Hare's work will long be studied by future students as it forms part of our cultural fabric and makes for worthy historical testimonial. Engaging with such work is provocative, stimulating and rewarding. The play's effective monologues and simulated effects paint a moving story that must force us to attend to social issues.

David Hare has written that he was "a little bit nervous, it would be true to say, of the nerdish aspects of this subject", yet he presents a human story devoid of nerdish qualities. It is not a play for anoraks, although they might see their passion as a bonus. The Permanent Way laughs at itself and its audacity to turn the subject matter into a piece of drama. The characters themselves step out to question whether or not it would actually be more appropriate as a novel. All these asides recruit the support of the audience as we want it to succeed dramatically. The production is not pioneering any new theatrical ideas, or competing for visual renown, but performs confidently in the knowledge that a good story told simply will communicate itself to the audience.

Unlike the National Rail, The Permanent Way will cruise into Warwick Arts Centre on time, take you on an inspiring and thoughtful journey, be run by a magnificent company and be more than worth the price of the ticket.