Writer: Paul Laverty, adapted for the stage by Dave Johns
Director: Mark Calvert
Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake is a wonderful film. It is, if anything, an even better play. Where film allows an objective, distanced view of the events, sharing a room with David Nellist’s kind, immensely lovable Daniel Blake brings his suffering and his frustration home with a vengeance.
Bryony Corrigan’s character Katie Jenkins, her bravery, her desperation, and her shame, similarly fills the space between actor and audience. Katie is additionally a London girl transported to Newcastle-on-Tyne, which creates a sense of fellow feeling for the audience in Joan Littlewood’s East London fun palace. Joan would certainly approve of this show.
I, Daniel Blake tells the story of a man who has worked hard all his life, only to be forced to give up employment by a serious heart attack. Unable to work, a bureaucratic snafu denies him the benefits to which he is entitled unless he applies for a job-seeker’s allowance. He knows full well he can’t work even if he gets a job, but he’s forced to go through the motions by a heedless system that likes rules more than it likes people.
Janine Leigh and Micky Cochrane both do an excellent job of portraying grotesquely indifferent benefits officers, overwhelmed by the fathomless oceans of need that they plunge into daily and in which they can no longer see any individuals. Kema Sikazwe repeats his film role of China, charming, lairy, full of schemes to get himself out of the mess his neighbours are in. The production doesn’t bang a loud political drum, but it does use genuine statements by the architects of Austerity Britain, and those statements, when juxtaposed with the misery they created, are damning.
The production uses a versatile set designed by Rhys Jarman, made of adjustable shelving units and office chairs, with the occasional small motif like the photograph of Daniel’s wife bringing some touches of humanity to the featureless backdrop. The ease with which new scenes can be set helps to avoid the cardinal sin of theatrical productions of films, when filmic short scenes translate into choppy, concentration-breaking scene changes on a stage. Mark Calvert’s direction lets the play flow, holds onto the emotional charge of the story, while still locating the action clearly and unambiguously.
The evening belongs, though, to David Nellist, Bryony Corrigan, and Jodie Wild, on her London debut playing Katie’s young daughter. They are human, funny, loving, and at the end of their respective tethers. The sense of communal support and global despair is communicated at full strength, the big dramatic moments are effortlessly integrated and well-earned, and the audience leaves with a willingness to support food banks and the NHS, as witnessed by the success of the collectors at the theatre exits. It’s an important, prescient, beautifully told, exquisitely acted piece that speaks loudly to the state of the nation today, through characters that are vivid and well-drawn and sadly all too recognisable.
Runs until 28 October 2023 and on tour