Last Updated on February 13, 2025
Successful West End and National Theatre hit fails to pack a punch on tour
Boys from the Blackstuff, Tour - Review - Richmond Theatre
Boys from the Blackstuff at Richmond Theatre relies on its audience having seen the original series to fully appreciate it
Event Type: Event
Event Attendance Mode: OfflineEventAttendanceMode
Event Status: EventScheduled
Performer: Person
Performer Name: Richmond Theatre
Start Date: 2025-02-12 19:56
End Date: 2025-07-05 19:57
Availability: InStock
Availability Starts: 2025-02-12T19:56:56
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James Graham’s adaptation of Boys from the Blackstuff saw its first life at Liverpool’s Royal Court, a fitting home for this homage to one of the most memorable TV series set in the city. The production received considerable acclaim and, after appearing at the National Theatre early last year, had a run at the West End’s Garrick Theatre before a nationwide tour was announced. But does this production still land on its feet? Judging by the performance at the Richmond Theatre (only the second leg of this twenty-theatre tour), this particular adaptation seems to have slightly lost its edge.
Boys from the Blackstuff was originally written by Alan Bleasdale as a five-episode series following the lives of five Liverpudlian tarmac layers as they grapple with the mass lay-offs associated with Thatcher’s Britain. Premiering on the BBC in 1982, it received three BAFTA awards the following year, catapulting Bleasdale’s career as a screenwriter and securing the phrase “gizza job” firmly in the national consciousness.
Condensed into a tight two and a half hours, James Graham takes some liberties with Bleasdale’s story, but the play largely follows the original version of Boys from the Blackstuff. It opens on the five main characters, Yosser, Loggo, Chrissie, George, and Dixie, lining up at the Department of Work to secure their dole. All of them have struggled to find employment after members of their crew fell victim to a scam at a job in Middlesbrough that resulted in them all losing their jobs. From here, their journeys are characterized by struggle, purposelessness, and occasional self-loathing, as the state continues to fail to provide them with what they really need work.
Although the cast manages to capture the anger (and mania) of unemployment, the production is so fast-paced and busy that the depressing reality, so successfully conveyed in the original series, is missing. Script-wise, cramming five unique stories into one play has its drawbacks, and some of the lines — both witty and harrowing — are not given their due weight.
However, the performances are largely very good, especially Ged McKenna as George, the wise oldie who stubbornly refuses to acknowledge his declining health, and Sian Polhill-Thomas as Ms Sutcliffe, who nails one of the funniest parts of the production. Overall, the main strengths lie in the cast’s ensemble work and their live singing, which punctuates the production with comradely spirit.
The second act improves upon the first, especially in scenes involving Yosser, played in the tour by Jay Johnson. The strengths of his portrayal are surprisingly not found in Yosser’s passion for headbutting people or his eventual mental breakdown but in the quieter moments of his desperation. Particularly in the church scenes, Johnson is able to give this production a taste of what it finds difficult to secure, a sense of gravity.
Unfortunately, the touring production of Boys from the Blackstuff also suffers from more than a few technical faults. The back screen at the Richmond Theatre, which provided textural backdrops for scenes, actually consisted of four projectors and one of the bottom corners repeatedly glitched, black screening. Additionally, more than one of the scene changes felt slightly clunky, as did some of the stunts.
Overall, however, the main takeaway from the production is that it misses an opportunity to highlight the story’s relevance today. The problems Bleasdale’s original drama illustrated have yet to be resolved, and with unemployment continuing to rise in the UK, this story should feel more urgent than ever. Yet, this production doesn’t quite seize that momentum.
Boys from the Blackstuff cannot be described as a fresh take on a familiar story, but paradoxically, it also relies on its audience having seen the original series to fully appreciate it. This production felt too caught up in the past to illuminate the present, though hard-hitting in parts, it doesn’t do enough to distinguish itself from history.
Boys from the Blackstuff – Nationwide Tour
Richmond Theatre
1 Little Green,
Richmond,
TW9 1QJ
On at Richmond Theatre until 15th February
Hadn’t seen the TV series but it didn’t make too much difference to the power of the cast’s performance, especially the police fight scene. Brilliantly done.
It didn’t have to portray the present; it showed how things were bad then and that we are already heading even further in a worse direction.