Bill Kenwright Ltd is delighted to announce the cast and full 2025 tour dates for James Graham’s adaptation of Alan Bleasdale’s Boys from the Blackstuff. Following sold out seasons at Liverpool’s Royal Court and the National Theatre, and in London’s West End at the Garrick Theatre, the production hits the road in 2025 on a 20 venue tour, beginning at Theatre Royal Windsor in January and ending at Theatr Clwyd in July.
‘80s Liverpool. Chrissie, Loggo, George, Dixie and Yosser are used to hard work and providing for their families. But there is no work and there is no money. What are they supposed to do? Work harder, work longer, buy cheaper, spend less? They just need a chance. Life is tough but the lads can play the game. Find the jobs, avoid the ‘sniffers’ and see if you can have a laugh along the way.
George Caple plays Chrissie, Jurell Carter plays Loggo, Jay Johnson takes on the role of Yosser, Ged McKenna plays George and Mark Womack is Dixie. Reiss Barber plays Snowy, Amber Blease plays Angie, Kyle Harrison-Pope is Kevin, Sean Kingsley is Malloy, Jamie Peacock is Moss, and Sian Polhill-Thomas plays Ms Sutcliffe. They are joined by Graham Elwell, Elliot Kingsley and Victoria Oxley.
‘Bleasdale’s writing is packed with humour’
★★★★★ Daily Mail
James Graham’s powerful adaptation of Alan Bleasdale’s BAFTA award-winning television drama has picked up rave reviews since it premiered at Liverpool’s Royal Court in September 2023. Directed by Kate Wasserberg, the tour includes a return to its home city at the Liverpool Empire from 25 – 29 March 2025. The tour will end in July at Theatr Clwyd, making it the first touring production to visit the theatre following the completion of its redevelopment in the spring.
James Graham says:
“Alan Bleasdale’s masterpiece is, a story proudly forged in the humour and voice of Liverpool, and it was a real honour and a thrill to open it to packed houses there last year, before bringing our show to London and the West End.
But Boys From the Blackstuff remains a story of national significance, with a lasting impact on British culture.Taking it on the road, to communities around the country, feels like the most important thing we could be doing next with our story.I’m delighted by the support and belief from Bill Kenwright Ltd, and Liverpool’s Royal Court that birthed it.”
Alan Bleasdale says:
“I never expected Boys from the Blackstuff to be quite the sell-out sensation it has become at Liverpool’s Royal Court, at the National Theatre and then in London’s West End.
What I always hoped was that the rest of the country might have a chance to see this magnificent adaptation by James Graham. Now, that has been made possible by Bill Kenwright Ltd who have staged my theatre work since Are You Lonesome Tonight over forty years ago!
James Graham’s Dear England (National Theatre and West End), a portrait of England footballer and team manager Gareth Southgate starring Joseph Fiennes, was nominated for nine Olivier Awards and the BBC has commissioned a four-part drama by Graham based on his play. His latest play, Punch, premiered at Nottingham Playhouse in May and his revised version will premiere at The Young Vic in March 2025. It is based on Jacob Dunne’s book Right from Wrong, an unflinching true-life account of how teenager Jacob throws a single punch with fatal consequences and then, when released from prison, meets the parents of his victim. Graham’s other writing includes The Way (BBC), Sherwood (BBC), Best of Enemies (Young Vic and Noel Coward Theatre), Quiz (Chichester’s Minerva Theatre, West End and ITV), Ink (Almeida Theatre, West End, Broadway) and This House (National Theatre).
Alan Bleasdale is a Liverpool-based playwright, screenwriter and writer. His playwrighting work includes Are You Lonesome Tonight?, Down the Dock Road, Having a Ball, It’s a Madhouse and No More Sitting on the Old School Bench. TV includes Boys from the Blackstuff, Scully, The Monocled Mutineer, G.B.H., Jake’s Progress, Melissa, Oliver Twist and The Sinking of the Laconia. Film includes No Surrender. Alan Bleasdale has also authored two novels and
numerous short stories.
Boys from the Blackstuff is directed by Kate Wasserberg (Artistic Director, Theatr Clwyd), with set and costume design by Amy Jane Cook, lighting design by Ian Scott, movement direction by Rachael Nanyonjo, original music and sound design by Dyfan Jones, video design by Jamie Jenkin and fight direction by Rachel Bown-Williams of Rc-Annie Ltd. Associate Director is Tim Welton.
TOUR DATES
29 Jan – 8 FebTheatre Royal Windsortheatreroyalwindsor.co.uk
11 – 15 FebRichmond Theatreatgtickets.com/Richmond
18- 22 FebBromley Churchillchurchilltheatre.co.uk
25 Feb – 1 MarTheatre Royal Baththeatreroyal.org.uk
5 – 8 MarThe Grand Theatre Blackpoolblackpoolgrand.co.uk
11 – 15 MarTheatre Royal Glasgowatgtickets.com/Glasgow
18 – 22 MarBirmingham Repbirmingham-rep.co.uk
25 – 29 MarLiverpool Empire Theatreatgtickets.com/Liverpool
8 – 12 AprCheltenham Everymaneverymantheatre.org.uk
15 – 19 AprDerby Theatrederbytheatre.co.uk
22 – 26 AprLowry Salfordthelowry.com
29 Apr – 3 MayYvonne Arnaud Guildfordyvonne-arnaud.co.uk
13 – 17 MayLeeds Grandleedsheritagetheatres.com
20 – 24 MayTheatre Royal Newcastletheatreroyal.co.uk
28 – 31 MayMercury Theatre Colchestermercurytheatre.co.uk/
3 – 6 JuneCast Doncastercastindoncaster.com
10 – 14 JuneRegent Theatre Stokeatgtickets.com/Stoke
17 – 21 JunTheatre Royal Brightonatgtickets.com/Brighton
24 – 28 JunMarlowe Theatre Canterburymarlowetheatre.com
1 – 5 JulyTheatr Clywd Moldtheatrclwyd.com
LISTINGS
Bill Kenwright Ltd presents the
Liverpool’s Royal Court and National Theatre production of
Alan Bleasdale’s
BOYS FROM THE BLACKSTUFF
by James Graham
2025 UK Tour
Directed by Kate Wasserberg
Set & Costume Design Amy Jane Cook
Lighting Design Ian Scott
Movement Direction Rachael Nanyonjo
Original Music & Sound Design Dyfan Jones
Video Design Jamie Jenkin
Fight Direction Rachel Bown-Williams of Rc-Annie Ltd
Associate Director Tim Welton
For more information, visit boysfromtheblackstuff.com.
X: blackstuffstage
Facebook: blackstuffstage
Instagram: blackstuffstage
Bluesky: @blackstuffstage.bsky.social
Biographies
GEORGE CAPLE (CHRISSIE)
George trained at RADA
Theatre includes: Boys From the Blackstuff, Homebaked (Liverpool’s Royal Court), Paint Your Wagon, The Big I Am, A Clockwork Orange, Fiddler On the Roof, Conquest of the South Pole, Romeo & Juliet ( all for Liverpool Everyman), The Secret Seven (Chester Storyhouse), Who Cares (Lowry), Epic Love & Pop Songs (Pleasance).
Television includes Doctor Who (BBC), Tin Star (Kudos), Doctors (BBC).
Film inlcudes: Kingsmen: The Great Game (Marc Films) , Nowhere Fast (short) Gloria (short).
JURELL CARTER (LOGGO)
Jurell Carter graduated from The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) in 2016. Jurell is best known for his series regular role of Nate Robinson on ITV’s ‘Emmerdale’, his performance earned him a nomination for ‘Best Newcomer’ at The National Television Awards. Other television credits include; ‘Home’ (Channel 4), ‘Doctors’ (BBC) & ‘Kiri’ (Channel 4)
Jurell is thrilled to be making his theatrical debut in ‘Boys from the Blackstuff’
JAY JOHNSON (YOSSER)
Theatre includes: Greasy Spoon (Royal Court, Liverpool); Two Pence to Cross the Mersey (Pulse Productions); The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole (Lula Productions) and Wishful Thinking (Unity Theatre, Liverpool).
Film credits include: Accused (Three Little Birds); The Keeper (Zephyr Films); Boiling Point (Ascendant Films); Nowhere Boy (Ecosse Films); The Now (Red Hot Media); Denial (LA Productions) and Foreign Friends (Rush Films).
Television credits include: Adolescence (Netflix); Little Boy Blue (ITV); Moving On (BBC) and Crimson Field (BBC).
GED MCKENNA (GEORGE)
Ged has worked at many theatres. In London at The Royal Court, Lyric, Hammersmith, The Royal National Theatre, The Donmar Warehouse, Polka Children’s Theatre, The Gate (Notting Hill) and several other Fringe venues. In the regions: The New Vic (Stoke), Library and Contact Theatre’s (Manchester), Playhouse (Liverpool), Theatre By The Lake (Keswick), The Traverse (Edinburgh), Rep (Birmingham), Playhouse (Salisbury), Hull Truck, Everyman (Cheltenham), Coliseum (Oldham), Chester (Grosvenor Park), Theatre Royal (Bury S. Edmunds), West Yorkshire Playhouse (Leeds), Northcott (Exeter), English Theatre (Frankfurt), Playhouse (Nottingham), Stephen Joseph Theatre (Scarborough). He has toured with Cheek by Jowl, Shared Experience, London Classic Theatre and several other Companies.
Television includes: The Tower (Series 3), Dead Hot, Fantabulouso, The Bill, The Commander, The Paradise Club, Boon, Law and Order UK, Doctors, Coronation Street, Hollyoaks, Holby City, Casualty, Anne, Moving On.
Film includes : Shirley Valentine, Vanity Fair, Away Days, To Know Him, Geronimo, Tide.
As a writer: The Farmer’s Bride (SJT, Scarborough, Battersea Arts Centre and Tour), Small Lives (SJT, Scarborough/The New Vic, Stoke), Cheers (M6, Rochdale), Robin Hood, Cinderella (Theatre Royal, Bury St. Edmunds).
MARK WOMACK (DIXIE)
Theatre credits include – For the Royal Exchange Theatre – Romeo and Julie, View from the Bridge, The Lodger (Also Hampstead Theatre) , Fast Food . Hamlet ( Contact Theatre) The Daughter in Law , Julius Caesar (Birmingham Rep) Hope ( Royal Court Theatre Liverpool), Clybourne Park (UK tour).
Mark’s film credits include Route Irish directed by Ken Loach , Under the Skin directed by Carine Adler, U Want me 2 Kill Him, Kelly and Victor and Subculture.
TV credits include Babylon, Tin Star, Anne, The Responder, Murphy’s Law, Hillsborough, Good Cop, Sorted, Buried and Liverpool 1.
REISS BARBER (SNOWY)
Theatre includes: Bull (Liverpool Everyman), Netherley Hillbillies (Liverpool’s Royal Court) Raves “R” Us (Naughty Corner Productions), Bootcamp (Not Too Tame) and The Knock (Sugar Punch).
AMBER BLEASE (ANGIE)
Theatre includes: Secret Cinema’s Guardians of the Galaxy (Fabulosa), Doctor Who: Time Fracture (Zoria), Closer (Hope Street Theatre), Pop-Up Globe’s Hamlet and Measure for Measure (New Zealand and Australia Tour).
KYLE HARRISON-POPE (KEVIN)
Theatre includes: Harvey (Vienna English Theatre), Forgotten Fellow (Velvet Smoke), A Midsummer Nights Dream (Australian Shakespeare Company), Pillow Talk (Velvet Smoke).
Opera ensembles include Rigoletto (The Royal Opera Japan Tour), Peter Grimes (The Royal Opera), Aida (The Royal Opera), Turandot (The Royal Opera).
Films include VRAG (Emberr Film).
SEAN KINGLSEY (MALLOY)
Theatre includes: Bindweed (Arcola/Mercury Theatre Colchester/New Wolsey Ipswich), The Addams Family (UK Tour/London Palladium), Patriots (Noel Coward Theatre), Mandela (Young Vic), Once (New Wolsey), The Grinning Man (Trafalgar Studios), Oxy and the Morons (New Wolsey), Jesus Christ Superstar (Regent’s Park), Jersey Boys (UK tour), Jackie the Musical (Dundee Gardyne), We Will Rock You (10th Anniversary World Tour), The Rocky Horror Show (European Tour), Jesus Christ Superstar (Minack), Little Shop of Horrors (Birmingham Rep), (Billy Elliot (Victoria Palace), The Drowsy Chaperone (Novello), Chess (20th Anniversary Concert, Oslo), Mamma Mia (International Tour), Some Girls are Bigger than Others (Lyric Hammersmith, National Tour, Dublin), Les Miserables (Queens/Palace Theatres), Cyrano de Bergerac (Cold Moon Rising, Jermyn Street), Scrooge (Dominion, National/European Tours), Me and My Girl (Adelphi), A Chorus Line (Derby Playhouse), Hot Shoe Shuffle (National Tour), Cats (New London), On the Town (National Tour).
Television and film includes: Black Doves, The Responder, London Road, Poirot, Wire in the Blood, Merseybeat, The Bill.
JAMIE PEACOCK (MOSS)
Jamie trained at Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts.
Theatre includes: Boys From The Blackstuff (Liverpool’s Royal Court), Stocking Fillers (Liverpool’s Royal Court), Masquerade (Liverpool’s Royal Court); The Incident Room, Twelfth Night and Woyzeck (Old Fruit Jar Productions), Grass (Perception Theatre) and X (Liverpool Everyman).
Film includes Sad Man Smiling.
Radio includes A Parlour Full of Noise.
SIAN POLHILL-THOMAS (MS SUTCLIFFE)
Theatre credits include: Beginning (Vienna’s English Theatre), Lady Windermere’s Fan (Vaudeville Theatre, West End) Ugly Lies the Bone (National Theatre, London), Deep Blue Sea (National Theatre, London), Vassa Zheleznova (Southwark Playhouse), Romeo and Juliet (Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmonds), The Natives (Old Vic Theatre).
TV credits include: Doctors, Coronation Street, Moving On, Critical, Doctors, Holby City, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, New Tricks, Hotel Babylon, Casanova and Cutting It.
GRAHAM ELWELL (ENSEMBLE)
Theatre includes : The Independent Socialist Republic of the Upper End of The Lower Breck Road (Royal Court Liverpool), Tony The Bodguard Musical (UK and Ireland tour), Of Mice And Men (Birmingham REP and UK Tour), The Last Of The Duty Free (UK Tour), The Elves and The Shoemaker (Norden Farm Centre for the Arts), Shakespeare’s Sonnets (The Globe), A Dog Called Redemption (Bolton Octagon), Rachael’s Café (UK & Ireland Tour), The Zoo Story (Pleasance Theatre), TheTaming Of The Shrew (Bridewell Theatre), Jekyll and Hyde i (Union Theatre), Speed The Plow (Cockpit Theatre), Phaedre i (Craigmillar Castle).
Screen includes: The Miniaturist (BBC), Trying (Apple TV), Four Weddings and a Funeral (HULU), Mike Bassett – Manager (ITV), Song of Songs (Mercenary Films), Crimewatch Solved (BBC).
ELLIOT KINGLSEY (ENSEMBLE)
Elliott trained through the YEP Programme at Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse.
Theatre includes: The Tempest (Royal & Derngate), The Wonderful World of Dissocia (Liverpool Playhouse), Fiddler on the Roof, The Story Giant and Romeo and Juliet (Everyman REP Company), Drag Nativity (Storyhouse, Chester;) and Ira Aldridge (Story Adventure at Shakespeare North Playhouse).
TV includes: Cobra and Antony.
VICTORIA OXLEY (ENSEMBLE)
Victoria trained at ALRA North.
Theatre includes: Much Ado About Nothing (Hope Mill Manchester and Shakespeare North Playhouse), Vagina Cake and Dancing Out (HER Productions), Stayin’ Alive (Unity, Liverpool), It’s My Pleasure to Participate (Bluecoat Liverpool) and An Enemy of the People (Bolton Octagon).
TV includes: Brassic (season six), Hollyoaks and Jeremy Kyle: Death on Daytime.