Citizens Theatre, Glasgow
Four stars
A decade has passed since Ken Loach and Paul Laverty introduced the world to Daniel Blake, the Geordie carpenter stymied into submission by a welfare system that sees his life degenerate into a Kafkaesque nightmare. We know this by the recorded voices speaking the words of former UK prime ministers that are beamed onto a battered billboard throughout this equally powerful stage version by Dave Johns, the original Dan on screen. Given the amount of ex PMs racked up over the last few years, Mark Calvert’s production has had his work cut out to updating their verbatim platitudes, which now includes missives from Downing Street’s latest incumbents. That the action on stage remains unchanged speaks volumes about the state we’re still in.
For those who haven’t seen it, Dan has been signed off work by his doctor after a heart attack. This isn’t good enough for the powers that be, however, who are adamant on cutting every benefit they can. Dan’s new neighbour Katie and her daughter Daisy are left similarly stranded. Dan’s other neighbour, China, meanwhile, is fired with entrepreneurial spirit as he attempts to offload a batch of dodgy trainers.
This microcosm of everyday poverty is ushered in by way of Ross Millard’s desolate guitar score on Rhys Jarman’s set of increasingly empty shelves. Here, David Nellist’s Dan and Jessica Johnson’s Katie attempt to navigate their way through the soulless bureaucratic mire in order to survive. With Jodie Wild’s Daisy and Kema Sikazwe repeating his film role as China in tow, the surrogate family formed becomes the play’s emotional heart. This is what gives it its power at the end beyond the bleakness.
It is deeply affecting stuff from Johns and co in this revival of the original production by Newcastle’s Northern Stage and Leeds Playhouse companies. For much of Thursday night’s performance you could hear a pin drop, and there is something tragically recognisable about the characters on stage that makes for an emotionally charged experience. But there is little bombast or rabble rousing on offer here, only an understated matter of factness in the telling of an all too ordinary story, albeit one we rarely hear about. Politicians at Westminster may have dismissed the original film as fiction, but as brand new cuts in Universal Credit are imposed this month, I, Daniel Blake has become a key drama of our times.
The Herald, April 11th 2026
Ends
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