James Graham’s excellent adaptation of Boys From The Blackstuff – Alan Bleasdale’s classic from the 1980s -is the latest production to be presented at The Regent Theatre and comes with the kitemark of approval that work from the National Theatre carries.
The story of a gang of men from Liverpool who are used to working long and hard laying tarmac have hit hard times in the Thatcher era. After losing most of their money following being scammed in Middlesbrough, the tale finds them in a bleak state of semi-survival.
Chrissie (George Caple), Loggo (Jurell Carter of Emmerdale fame), Yosser (Jay Johnson), George (Ged McKenna) and Dixie (Mark Womack) are all desperate for work but most of what they can find is either in the form of cash in hand or low paid and unskilled and all are struggling to gain satisfaction. Inevitably, this is also felt by the families and Chrissie’s wife Angie (Amber Blease) is finding it hard to cope especially as there is no food in the house to feed their young children.
Malloy (Sean Kingsley) offers some work that is off the book but the workers have to beware as they are being pursued by the sniffers – undercover employees of the Department of Employment – to catch anyone prepared to work without declaring income. Moss (Jamie Peacock) is particularly keen to track down “The Boys” after being given the task by his boss Ms Sutcliffe (Sian Polhill-Thomas). But after George’s son Snowy (Reiss Barber) falls to his death while being pursued by Moss, the dynamics change.
Bleasdale has created some excellent characters that the audience can really empathise with. Chrissie is principled and is unwilling to accept the offer of what he regards as a guilt job from Malloy even though he is pushed to contemplate killing his pets to provide a meal on the table; Loggo appears to be coping the best of all but even he is coming to realise that there has to be better opportunity away from Liverpool; and George – despite being the one that the others come to for help and guidance – is clearly terminally ill and has a very touching scene when he describes the comparative plenty on offer during his youth.
Meanwhile, Dixie is badly affected by his meaningless job as a security guard. A proud man, he is devastated when strong-armed into criminal behaviour and can only dream of the times when a working man could feel the pride of putting on his overalls on a Monday and his suit on a Friday night and finds it difficult to come to terms with the fact that his son Kevin (Kyle Harrison-Pope) has lost the will to even look for work.
However, the worst affected is Yosser. Pursued by debt collectors, his relationship with reality has become very stretched and we watch his spiral into breakdown with a mixture of enjoyment at his magnificent one-liners and an itch to find a sofa to hide behind. A captivating performance from Johnson and it was so good to hear those catchphrases again.
Director Kate Wasserberg has done an excellent job and has created a piece of theatre that is both faithful to the original of some forty years ago while making it relevant to 2025. It is quite amazing that the action can transition so smoothly from the bleakness of a funeral to laugh out loud comedy and all credit must go not just to an excellent cast who made their characters multi-dimensional but also to a highly talented creative team.
Amy Jane Cook has created a set that accurately depicts a run-down industrial city and this is enhanced by atmospheric lighting from Ian Scott and Video from Jamie Jenkin. Great movement directed by Rachel Nanyonjo and sound from Dyfan Jones and a well-constructed fight scene designed by Rachel Bown-Williams all combine to make a perfect production.
Like Yosser, many of us believe “I can do that”. The reality is that it takes real talent to create a play so rounded as this one.
Boys From The Blackstuff has a running time of approximately 2 hours 45 minutes including interval and continues until June 14th. For ticket information contact atgtickets.com
