Our Friends In The North
Epic drama revival at The Lowry…
Northern Stage
Our Friends In The North
By Peter Flannery
Directed by Erica Whyman
The Lowry, Tue 18 – Sat 22 March 2008
Press Night: Tue 18 March, 7pm
• Interviews are available with author Peter Flannery, director Erica Whyman and members of the cast
The first ever revival of the play Our Friends in the North, familiar to many people as one of the greatest television series of all time, visits The Lowry on Tue 18 March. Few people realise that the Bafta-winning series, that made stars of virtual unknowns Daniel Craig and Christopher Eccleston, started life as a small-scale play produced by the RSC. Now, 25 years later, Northern Stage are turning north-east writer Peter Flannery’s play into a large-scale epic.
This is a drama of epic proportions, with 14 actors playing 43 characters, across 17 years and two continents. Told through the stories of four friends – Nicky, Mary, Tosker and Geordie – it is a magnificent chronicle through the 1960s and 70s, jumping from the Houses of Commons, to the banks of the River Tyne, to Scotland Yard, through a Newcastle high-rise and even into a seedy Soho porn shop. It’s a fast-paced and slick journey through the murky world of whispered conversations in the corridors of power and underhand deals, where everyone is getting their hands dirty.
An extensive investigation into the nature of corruption and the abuse of power, Our Friends in the North is inspired by a number of real-life scandals and rumours; the inadequate social housing built by corrupt councillors in 1960s Newcastle; the London Metropolitan Police bribery by Soho gangsters; and the UK government’s selling of oil to the sanction-imposed Rhodesia after their declaration of independence. Directed by Erica Whyman, the production looks at the defeat of left-wing idealism when the thirst for power becomes the driving force.
11 of the actors are native Geordies. The well-known faces of Tracey Wilkinson (Di Barker in Bad Girls) and RSC regular Darren Tunstall, will perform alongside some of the north east’s most recognisable faces – Byker Grove’s Neil Armstrong, Jill Halfpenny’s husband Craig Conway, and veteran Geordie actors Rod Culbertson, Rod Arthur and Bill Fellows.
Peter Flannery is working closely with Northern Stage to look at how Our Friends in the North is relevant to today’s audiences. He will be rewriting and reinstating the section looking at corruption in what was Rhodesia which was left out of the television series and also writing a new ending for the play. Peter says, "The original stage play Our Friends in the North has lived for so long in the shadow of its television adaptation that I no longer believed it would ever be revived. Now, 25 years after its first and only production, Erica Whyman and Northern Stage are about to rescue it from near oblivion."
Posted on Wednesday, 27 February 2008 under Press Theatre Press