The bard pays homage to his two muses: his wife and his football club
Symbolic victims of state brutality
SYLVIA HIKINS wholeheartedly recommends the stage production of Alan Bleasdale’s warm, witty TV classic
BOISTEROUS: (L to R) Mark Womack, Andrew Schofield, Lauren O'Neil, Nathen McMullen, Barry Sloane, Aron Julius
[Jason Roberts]
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by an incoherent show that fails to question stereotypical assumptions about the Soviet Union
JOHN McINALLY welcomes a rigorous class analysis of the history and exploitation of sectarianism by the Scottish ruling elite
WILL STONE, JAMES WALSH and MARIA DUARTE review Souleymane’s Story, Sunlight, Good Fortune, and After The Hunt
ALEX HALL recommends an exhaustive investigation of the means by which the Starmer faction assassinated the left
DAVID MORGAN recommends a refreshingly inspiring novel that features encounters with some tremendous women
Boys from the Blackstuff
Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool
IN MY hallway hangs a portrait of Yosser Hughes, key player in the iconic 1980s TV series Boys from the Blackstuff, Liverpool playwright Alan Bleasdale’s warm, witty but ultimately tragic look at the way economics and lack of social support affects ordinary people.
Forty years later, in collaboration with writer James Graham, the blackstuff boys Chrissie, Loggo, George, Dixie and Yosser are back on stage in their hometown, Liverpool, retelling their story.
Similar stories
SYLVIA HIKINS casts an eye across the contemporary art brought to a city founded on colonialism and empire
CHRIS MOSS welcomes a radical history that brings marginalised stories and overlooked people and agencies to the centre
A manifesto for change, feminism in the digital age and a wordless play by Palestinians
SYLVIA HIKINS rejoices at the confounding of evil property developers in a subversive re-telling of the fairytale