Prolific playwright James Graham was born in 1982, the year Alan Bleasdale's unforgettable series was televised. From Nottingham rather than Liverpool, Graham recognised in his own surroundings the predicaments of the main characters, the bonds between them and the importance to them of place and of shared stories. An admirer of Bleasdale's work, he had already acknowledged the older writer's influence on Sherwood, his television crime drama pulsating with continuing divisions caused by the miners' strike.
Following its sold out run in 2023, Boys from the Blackstuff has returned to Liverpool’s Royal Court, before the show transfers to the National Theatre in London and Garrick Theatre in the West End.
George Bernard Shaw's 1914 play Pygmalion was the inspiration for the beloved musical My Fair Lady. But this revival at the Old Vic may leave fans of the film choking on their cucumber sandwiches.
40 years after Alan Bleasdale's ground-breaking television series was essential viewing, Stockroom and Liverpool's Royal Court are delighted to present an unmissable, powerful new adaptation by James Graham, writer of the hit BBC series Sherwood.