The New Stage Adaptation of Our Friends in the North Celebrates 30 Years of the BBC Drama
Marking the 30th anniversary of multi-award winning BBC drama Our Friends in the North, a brand new stage adaptation is coming to Newcastle Theatre Royal
First broadcast on the BBC in 1996, Our Friends in the North launched the careers of several famous faces including Daniel Craig, Christopher Eccleston, Mark Strong and Gina McKee. Spanning three decades, the series followed four friends from Newcastle (Tosker, Geordie, Nicky and Mary) as they navigated their lives against the backdrop of post-war Britain and the rise of Thatcherism. It’s a lot to unpack, so the new stage adaptation, a co-production between Live Theatre, Eastlake Productions and Newcastle Theatre Royal, will focus on the Thatcher years of the original narrative.
‘It is one of the great epic sagas of our time,’ says Live Theatre’s artistic director, Jack McNamara. ‘Thirty years have passed since it was first broadcast and yet so much of it feels like a reflection of where we are today in terms of political ambitions, corrupted ideals and the personality cult in modern politics. There is even a precursor for social media smear campaigns, albeit in 1979. Ultimately, it’s a piece about hope. And we all need a bit of that.’
The series struck a chord with Jamie Eastlake, of Eastlake Productions, when he was just a teenager. ‘I didn’t actually watch it until I was around 14, in the noughties,’ he recalls. ‘At the time, Daniel Craig was the new Bond and I’d been to see Casino Royale three times. So when I heard he’d played a character called Geordie, obviously I had to “binge” it. It was the first time I’d really seen something about people from the North East in that kind of dramatic context. I’d obviously seen Purely Belter and Goal!, but to see something so grounded in the fabric of politics, class and people absolutely blew my little mind.’
CEO of Newcastle Theatre Royal, Marianne Locatori, understands the mark the series made on viewers then, and has enjoyed revisiting the story now. ‘What struck me is the relevance it still has today – the characters, the stories, the challenges – all of these things have a place in conversation right now,’ she says. ‘Whilst it aired 30 years ago, and was written before that, it's still so relevant and that's what theatre should be about. It is iconic and people know it, but it still has something to say today. When Jack first came to talk to me, I just didn’t hesitate.’
Rehearsals are already in full swing, and a talented cast and crew of Northerners are excited to tell the story. Alongside Ryan Nolan, Scott Turnbull, Jack Robertson and Sam Neale, the ensemble brings together performers from across the region, including Meena Al-Nawrasy, Chris Connel, Trevor Fox, Jane Holman, Leo James, Cooper McDonough, Jude Nelson and Robert Punchard. Jack says he’s most looking forward to ‘working with a banging ensemble of 12 stunning actors from the North East to really fill that beautiful Royal stage’. ‘We were only ever going to go with a fully local cast,’ he adds. ‘There is an amazing amount of acting talent in the North East and this production will certainly showcase that.’
Marianne explains how this co-production really is an opportunity for North East creatives, artists and actors. ‘That was always an ambition from the start because it needs to have integrity,’ she says, and Jamie agrees. ‘It’s chock-full of North East talent, including a stack of brilliant up-and-coming young actors who haven’t necessarily had their chance to shine on a stage of this scale yet, which is truly special,’ he adds. ‘The casting process was rigorous and led brilliantly by the Live Theatre team, with hundreds of actors seen both in person and via self-tape. The choices they’ve made are brilliant and exciting, and I can’t wait for people to see this company together.’
The TV show’s writer Peter Flannery has also been a driving force behind this new production. ‘Having the original writer involved was always key to keeping the heart of those characters intact, while allowing us to create something that feels completely at home on stage now,’ says Jamie. ‘The focus on the Thatcher years also feels more important than ever given the current political climate. Then, visually, the design is going to feel contemporary, cool and ambitious. It’s going to really stand out.’
The dialogue is close to the original TV show but expanded for a live audience. ‘Having Peter come back to this iconic material ensures that it has the same voice it had many years ago whilst still speaking directly to us today,’ Jack adds.
This special co-production follows the huge success of Gerry & Sewell (based on the proudly Northern film Purely Belter) which was written and directed by Olivier Award-winner Jamie, transferred to Live Theatre, co-produced by Newcastle Theatre Royal, and led to a West End run. It’s co-productions like these that offer more opportunities to local talent. ’The industry is very tough right now, so finding interesting and viable models to produce work, which also allow a trickle-down effect for organisations developing artists and new work, is incredibly important,’ says Jamie. ‘Our work now is about driving commercial theatre from this region in a way that hasn’t really been done before. I think this is step two in a 10-step plan to make that a reality, and ultimately for the rest of the UK to look at the North East and genuinely consider it a producing powerhouse.’
Marianne agrees there’s a strength in partnership. ‘We’re all bringing different skills to this partnership, which is what makes a partnership work,’ she says. ‘In theatre, quite often, we work in partnership or co-production with similar scale venues or similar scale organisations, and what I'm really interested in (and really pleased that we're piloting to some extent), is how we’re at very different scales and have very different ways of working. We’re crossing over all of those boundaries to co-produce for the benefit of our audiences, the artists, and for the region. It's building on what we did with Gerry & Sewell, it’s learning from that, but bringing these three different organisations together to create theatre is really exciting.’
‘This kind of co-production is quite unique in our industry,’ agrees Jack. ‘It is enabling all of us involved to go further than we could on our own. It’s a partnership in the truest sense. The fact that it means so much to each of us will only benefit what ends up on stage.’
This all supports Newcastle Theatre Royal’s creative ambition. ‘We will always bring in world-class productions because audiences in the North East deserve and should be able to see them, but not at the expense of telling our own stories,’ says Marianne. ‘Those two things sit side by side on our stage, and that is an important ambition for us.’
Likewise, it’s a dream come true for Jamie. ‘I had a whiteboard in my office a few years back with “work to find a way to produce” written across the top,’ he says. ‘And right at the top of the list was Our Friends in the North. So the fact we’re actually doing it now is amazing. Hopefully that’s a good omen, as Spielberg’s Hook was second on the list!
‘Our whole ethos at Eastlake Productions is about pushing Northern work and Northern stories. There’s still a real dearth of them on our biggest stages, so to have one of the most famous Northern stories of the modern era brought back in a new adaptation means an awful lot to us. We have to give our audiences the opportunity to hear our accent, to see our people and to see our stories represented on the biggest stages of all. That shouldn’t feel unusual, it should be completely normal.’
It’s hoped the production will feel like a homecoming for those who loved the show, but at the same time that new generations will feel a connection to each of the characters and what they are going through. ‘If audiences are moved then we have done our job,’ Jack says. ‘This series affected people deeply for many years. The production is trying to capture the emotion of a very difficult time in recent history. We want people to go through those range of emotions but emerge feeling hopeful!’
Marianne agrees it’s all about that shared experience. ‘We all hope people come to the theatre and they enjoy the experience and that it gives them something to think about, laugh about, maybe something to cry about – but it's that shared experience of that real North East story on stage.’
Jamie hopes audiences leave excited by the idea that this isn’t a one-off. ‘This is the next phase of amazing Northern work starting here in Newcastle,’ he says, ‘and hopefully travelling far beyond it…’
