Review: I, Daniel Blake (Touring)

Friday, 6th October 2023 at Leeds Playhouse (Courtyard Theatre).

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

If ever there was a “right time” to have I, Daniel Blake on stage, surely it’s now. Ken Loach’s 2016 film, with screenplay by Paul Laverty and on which this stage adaptation from Dave Johns is based, really rustled feathers, and rightly so. With its no-holds-barred political outpourings and a generous dose of Geordie wit, it also garnered great praise and various awards – also rightly so. So as a lacerating take-down of Tory ignorance, arrogance and sheer lack of compassion, this story has always packed a powerful punch, but with a cost-of-living crisis hitting the most vulnerable harder than ever, this play is ripe for right now.

This production benefits tenfold from having two truly fantastic leads at its core. First, we meet Dan Blake, who is off work at the instruction of his doctor following a heart attack. In the hands of David Nellist, Dan is a proud man with a strong moral compass and an instinct to do the honourable thing. He’s also allergic to bull, stupid questionnaires and being treated like a criminal. Nellist makes Dan a likeable, layered guy and gives him a kind-hearted playful streak even while demonstrating entertainingly limited patience for fools – he is genuinely brilliant in the role.

So Dan embarks on an Odyssey through bureaucracy and crosses paths with Katie Jenkins, who is also in need of support, with daughter Daisy in tow. Instantly facing a rude awakening at the benefits office after arriving up north, nobody seems willing to help her – until Dan steps in. It’s in the development of this tentative, fragile friendship against a backdrop of cruel indifference that the play finds its beating heart.

Bryony Corrigan is a perfect Katie. She’s fiery and defensive but also resilient and vulnerable and wounded all within a single look. She nails the selfless mum role and captures that very specific discomfort found in a person’s insistence on being fine while her own smiling face betrays her. It’s a stellar performance – and one which only increases in impact as Dan and Katie’s friendship endures all kinds of challenges.

Josie Wild is also spot on as Daisy, securing every ounce of support as she describes the comments at school and tries to remain undemanding as she watches her mother struggle. Kema Sikazwe’s China injects some light-heartedness and optimistic glimpses of entrepreneurial spirit, while Janine Leigh and Micky Cochrane provide various figures of support or woe, conjuring ruthless officious fools or the all-important, welcoming Food Bank staff.

And a particularly great element of this play is Rhys Jarman’s set, which features very little movement of set pieces in a multifunctional space beneath a huge screen which easily dominates. This screen then displays snippets of speeches from recent Prime Ministers (with audio), bringing the play beyond the 2016 original to 2023 in tweet-style posts, each as delusional as the last when it comes to claims about jobs and benefits.

It’s a well structured play too, as it undercuts the brutality experienced by our characters with their own wit and warmth. The dynamic between our leads is beautifully hopeful but also just incredibly sad, and the questions build throughout: why is it so hard to access necessary help? Why do the “rules” actively force people to undermine their own values? How is a person recovering from a medical emergency being put in such a stressful situation? Why are these two flailing souls the only ones caring enough to look out for one another? Where’s the compassion? Where’s the humanity? It’s those questions which allow this piece to light a fire in the bellies of its audiences, and the chuntering and tutting and emotional sniffing audible throughout is surely a testament to the power of a piece like this, in a time like ours.

I, Daniel Blake is touring until 18th November 2023 – more information and tickets can be found here.