Garrick Theatre, London – until 3rd August 2024
Reviewed by Celia Armand Smith
4****
It’s 1982 and a group of five out of work Liverpudlian labourers are on the dole and desperate for legitimate work. Finding work for cash here and there, and having lost all their money on a bad job in Middlesbrough, they must avoid being caught by the sniffers while trying to retain some sense of themselves. Based on Alan Bleasdale’s famous TV series, this stage adaptation by James Graham originated at Liverpool’s Royal Court under Kevin Fearon, before moving to the National, and then the Garrick.
Set during the height of the Thatcher years, Boys from the Blackstuff follows George (Philip Whitchurch), Dixie (Mark Womack), Loggo (Aron Julius), Chrissie (Nathan McMullen), and Yosser (Barry Sloane) as they sign on, work dodgy side hustles that result in various tragedies, and try and keep themselves and their families together. This play is certainly bleak, but it is also full of heart, warmth and community. These men love and support each other through grief, illness, and heartbreak; their lives forever woven together.
The whole cast under the direction of Kate Wasserberg is superb, but it is Barry Sloane as the desperate Yosser who stands out. Constantly seeing potential for employment in every job with his catchphrase “Gis a job, go on, gis it”. He is pushed to the very edge by his circumstances, sometimes we see him topple into violence. There is a scene involving Yosser and the police that is so beautifully choreographed by Rachel Bown-Williams that I fully forgot to breathe for a minute or so.
Despite the play being centred around the experiences of men, balance is afforded us by stellar performances from Lauren O’Neil and Helen Carter. They play wives at the ends of their tether and Department of Employment workers who, like all the other characters, are all heartbreak and gentle comedy.
Amy Jane Cook’s set is industrial and harsh, and with the aid of projections and soundscapes from Jamie Jenkin and Dyfan Jones, Liverpool becomes another character in the plot.
Boys from the Blackstuff is about people trying to survive within a system that is not fit for purpose. Honest and poetic, James Graham’s play about lives torn apart in a desperate time is a must see this summer.