The Boys From the Blackstuff – Theatre Royal, Glasgow

Writer: James Graham

Director: Kate Wasserberg

Alan Bleasdale’s television series Boys From the Blackstuff broke new ground when it debuted in 1982. Perfectly reflecting the first years of Thatcher’s Britain seen through the eyes of five, now unemployed, tarmac layers (the blackstuff of the title). The work shone a light on the brutal realities of industrial decline in the North of England, mass unemployment and the devastating effect on men’s mental health, subjects little discussed in drama at the time. The reception and resonance with its audience leading it to be repeated a mere nine weeks after its initial transmission, almost unprecedented at the time. It has consistently appeared on many Best Of TV polls down through the decades.

This stage version from playwright James Graham debuted at Liverpool’s Royal Court in 2023, subsequently running at both The National and Garrick Theatres in London and is now touring the UK.

Loggo, Chrissie, Dixie, George and Yosser’s stories intertwine as they meet in the Dole queue in their desperate effort to find work in an environment where the only growth industry is unemployment. Facing interrogation and almost pathological levels of persecution at the hands of the employment office “sniffers” and with zero opportunities coming their way, we watch as these men’s lives painfully unravel. Relationships fracture, conflicts occur with the offer of off the book work, the dinner tables are bare, the utilities are cut off and there’s just no hope. A hope these men cling to with admirable dignity, well beyond reason.

The action opens on the Toxteth riots and plays out on Amy Jane Cook’s corrugated iron and rusty girder set, with projections of the city of Liverpool and the mighty River Mersey in the background. Transitions are both choreographed and set to the men’s folksy group singing, the stark set and the lyrical flow of the action, laser focusses the attention on the heart-breaking realities of these men’s lives playing out in front of us.

The characterisations are, in turn, quietly despairing, philosophical, dignified, wise, unhinged, funny and sensitive. Each is perfectly pitched, there isn’t a weak link in the entire cast. Arguably Jay Johnson has the hardest task as the most recognisable, almost legendary character Yosser Hughes. He delivers a performance that is utterly heart-breaking as a man driven to complete mental collapse by unemployment. There is the most solid of support from Mark Womack as the stoic Dixie and Ged McKenna as the wise owl senior George. That said, this production is an example of almost perfect casting. The performances so affecting you are put through the emotional wringer from start to end.

You can’t fail to be moved by this production, be it as a remembrance for those who lived it at the time, or as someone learning of the very grim realities of life in Thatcher’s Britain in the early 80s, it is truly affecting, poignant and powerful. As to resonance, original creator Bleasdale says “different things are happening, but the same people are getting shat on”, James Graham concurs “the circumstances are different but the despair is the same”. Heart-breakingly true.

Runs until 15 March 2025 | Image: Alastair Muir