BOYS FROM THE BLACKSTUFF
Photo: Alastair Muir
It’s the early 1980s and the country is in crisis. Unemployment is strangling society, men, women and families are living on the breadline and below and in the industrial north of England the impact is devastating and dividing entire communities. In Liverpool the once bustling docks are lying empty, container ports taking over as larger ships cannot access the Mersey and transatlantic trade has faded.
Anyone born in the 1950s and 60s will remember this and especially if you lived in South West Lancashire or Merseyside, by this point the government had annexed Liverpool from Lancashire as they had done to Manchester to create two new administrative regions. They were bleak times, by the end of the 1970s unemployment in the UK had reached 3 million.
Alan Bleasdale’s seminal TV drama took, episode by episode, the stories of a group of workers and friends who, in the hope of putting food on the table, were claiming social benefits and working illegally on the side. The series was an immediate success, resonating with many and Bleasdale’s dark humour sharply highlighting what was a human tragedy.
So could the heart of this legendary TV series be adapted for stage, replicate the impact in two hours of theatre? The answer is yes. James Graham has captured the essence of the story by focusing on two characters, Chrissie and Yosser, whilst not ignoring the rest of the members of the story. But it is Chrissie’s conflict of conscience and Yosser’s decline into madness that form the core of the play.
George Caple & Ged McKenna. Photo: Alastair Muir
George Caple is perfect in the role of Chrissie, there is a gentleness to his playing of the part, even when driven to anger, and that works so well. Jay Johnson has the enormous chore of playing a much loved and legendary TV character. Yosser Hughes entered UK TV history, a massive character with his own catchphrase, gizzajob was on the lips of the nation, delivered with an angry but plaintive scouse twang. Johnson gets it so right, yes we hear the ghost of Bernard Hill, but it is not an impersonation, Johnson has made the character his own. And what a role it is, the tragedy that gradually unfolds, the terrible sadness of a man destroyed by loss.
Jay Johnson. Photo: Alastair Muir
Ged McKenna is a solid presence, the wise older man, the rational thread but one still driven by that sense of injustice and inequality. Mark Womack is Dixie, terrified by the chipping away of his own moral compass but driven by need. Jurell Carter’s Loggo is a solid presence, prepared to do what is needed but eventually driven away by a realisation that his needs simply cannot be served.
Reiss Barber plays the tragic role of Snowy, proud of his work, ashamed of the shabby work being done by cowboy builders, but the clear message being that even the humblest of jobs should be done with a conscience and with pride.
Kyle Harrison-Pope is the youngster, the kid who sees little hope in his future, little point in getting out of bed, there is genuine sadness in his resignation to a bleak future.
Sian Polhill-Thomas & Jamie Peacock. Photo Alastair Muir
In contrast to the unemployed we are given the department of unemployment so beautifully constructed in line ups of the claimants under numbers, they are just numbers after all, and the terrible presence of the investigators. Jamie Peacock is a despicably slippery and ambitious Moss, lucky to have a job despite coming from Liverpool 8 where most men and women did not. Sian Polhill-Thomas is the dark voice of authority, calm and rational, treading the government line but ultimately…
Sean Kingsley plays Malloy, the builder who exploits the needs of the workers and is perhaps the real villain of the piece. You cannot help but hate him and the turmoil and tragedy that his slipshod and avaricious attitude creates. Amber Blease is delightful as Angie, pure scally charm, sharp witted one moment and sympathetic the next.
The ensemble work their socks off playing incidental characters too. Wives and girlfriends, publicans, policemen, officials and weirdos, they all colour the story.
Director Kate Wasserberg creates a wonderful vision of this deeply masculine world, but also sharply depicts the impact that the crisis had on women and children. Amy Jane Cook’s set it a darkly domineering presence, industrial wasteland, terraced streets and tower blocks depicted in Jamie Jenkins’ powerful and beautiful projections. Dyfan Jones’ score and soundscape glowers but never overpowers and Rachael Nanyonjo’s movement adds cinematic qualities at times, elegant but never intrusive, and it is beautifully executed.
This is entertaining stuff for sure but it is more that that. This is educational, an important part of British social history that needs to be remembered and needs to be told.
Andrew Kay
17 June
Theatre Royal Brighton
Rating:
