Alan Bleasdale’s groundbreaking TV drama ‘Boys from the Blackstuff’ brought the harsh realities of mass unemployment in Liverpool’s working-class to the fore. Even today, the drama resonates with its portrayal of a group of road-laying workers struggling to survive the bleak job market whilst being hounded by government jobcentre officers attempting to reduce benefits under Thatcher’s government. The plight of the underprivileged was originally broadcasted in 1982, where its now-secondary character, Yosser Hughes (played by Bernard Hill) pleaded, “Gizza job. I can do that.”
The play has been adapted for a theatrical show by James Graham, who is known for his works including the BBC’s ‘Sherwood.’ The show is another portrayal of the long-term impact of Thatcher’s legacy on the community in which Graham grew up. Critics of Graham’s writing have cited similarities between the two TV dramas. Bleasdale and Graham sit side by side in the bar of Liverpool’s Royal Court, where ‘Boys from the Blackstuff’ is being staged, and are asked if they intended a connection between the shows. Graham replies that it was very much a conscious decision to emulate Bleasdale’s work.
Age and sight impairment caused by age-related macular degeneration have led Bleasdale to purchase successive TVs, and it was on the latest, a maxi-screen, that he watched ‘Sherwood’ along with his wife, Julia. Bleasdale’s emotional side is on display when he recognizes the significance of the show and tears up. The two writers make an unlikely but entertaining double-act, with Bleasdale admitting that he would find it easier to talk about James without him being present.
The Liverpool venue for Boys from the Blackstuff has had an eventful life; it was once a leading opera house and the venue for many performances by Elvis Costello, but it became a shadow of its former self, only finding new life when The Blackstuff was taken over by Kevin Fearon, who turned it into a comedy and theatre venue. The idea for a stage adaptation was originally suggested to Bleasdale by director Kate Wasserberg five years ago, and Bleasdale admits to pleading with Graham to do the adaptation.
Despite the fact that The Blackstuff was a one-off TV show in 1980 that introduced the characters, Graham manages to adapt the story to flow into the storyline, making it feel cohesive and seamless. Initially, he obtained the script from Bleasdale’s archive, but he has now created flashbacks to interpolate sections that support his storyline. As Bleasdale admits, these are the kinds of writing techniques that he would never have used, and it is why they both believe that Graham was a better fit to write the stage adaptation
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