REVIEW: I, Daniel Blake at Northern Stage ★★★★★

TW: Poverty, food insecurity, death

On Saturday, I went to see I, Daniel Blake again after catching it in previews in May.

I genuinely think this is one of the best plays I've ever seen. The plot follows Dan Blake, a carpenter, a kind, Geordie man who becomes ill after a serious heart attack and his experiences of navigating the British benefits system. Based on the 2016 film (which is well worth a watch if you haven't seen it already), the play has been re-written to bring it into 2023, despite the film still proving to be very relevant for today's cost-of-living crisis and austerity Britain, by Dave Johns who played Daniel Blake in the film.

The show begins and ends with a quote from Ian Duncan Smith, who called I, Daniel Blake a work of fiction. A lot of the marketing has highlighted that it is not a work of fiction, but the reality for a lot of working class people - probably even more so than when the film came out.

The cast are outstanding, and how they manage to perform that show everyday I will never know. It's incredibly emotional, basically everyone was crying at the end of the performance, including most of the cast members, and it's so draining. To tell the story in such a convincing and amazing way, I take my hat off to them. It's great that they've also got local talent performing the show, with all the cast coming from the North East, who I think understand the reality of people in this position. I can completely understand why Bryony Corrigan has received a UK Theatre Awards nomination, as she is outstanding as Katie, a very intense part to be playing. My only gripe is that Dave Nellist should have got a nomination also, as his Daniel Blake is beyond words, a true masterclass, and you can see how much he cares about the character.

The set is very simple, but absolutely does the job. The only thing I would say is that when I saw it in previews, there was subtitling throughout the show projected onto the set, which is no longer part of the show. I was slightly disappointed that this hadn't been kept as it made the show much more accessible, but I appreciate there would have been some reasoning behind this.

I would urge anyone to see this show, as I think it's so important to hear this story.

Tickets: I, Daniel Blake

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