Adapted from a conversation between Natasha Tripney and writer Dave Johns with actors Bryony Corrigan and Kema Sikazwe about I, Daniel Blake: at Leeds Playhouse 3 – 7 October.
“Things haven’t got better, they’ve got worse,” says Dave Johns, comedian and former brickie, who made his name in the critically-acclaimed film I, Daniel Blake. He doesn’t pull any punches, a trait which is confirmed in his hard-hitting story of a middle-aged widower who is denied benefits and deemed fit for work despite recently suffering a major heart attack.
The film was brought to the screen by writer Paul Laverty and director Ken Loach, winning a Palme D’or at Cannes in 2016. Now, Johns has adapted the film for stage, touring in a new production directed by Mark Calvert.
Dave Johns tells us that the story is “about ordinary people caught in a welfare system that doesn’t listen to them, and that seems to be set up to thwart them. With the cost-of-living crisis and all that, it’s perfect timing.”
To honour the themes of the play, the Playhouse has become a collection point for Leeds East & South Food Bank, which supported more than 14,000 local people with emergency food in 2022-23 – a 30% increase on the previous year.
Bryony Corrigan, who plays Katie, the young single mother who forms a close friendship with Daniel: “We spent time with volunteers and met people who used food banks and heard their stories. It was really eye-opening.”
“I’m a great fan of Paul Laverty…………………….so for him to trust me with this story was a great honour,” says Johns, whose film role is played by David Nellist on stage. “I’m a bit too old to remember all those lines.”
Johns did not simply want to recreate the film on stage. “I didn’t want it to be a period piece. We have this great team (including designer Rhys Jarman, music by Ross Millard from Sunderland post-punk band The Futureheads, and AV design and projections by Matthew Brown for PixelLux who recently worked on Bonnie and Clyde in the West End) so it’s not just a kitchen-sink drama; it’s quite stylised.”
Johns: “….. this is the truth of ordinary people’s lives. There’s nothing made up about this.”
The stage adaptation further develops the character of Katie, who had no choice but to be rehoused in Newcastle because there was no affordable housing in London.
Bryony Corrigan: “What Dave’s done so brilliantly is to flesh out her back story. We learn more about what led her to end up where she is, threaded in a couple of other issues, such as domestic abuse and social housing.”
Kema Sikazwe (aka rapper Kema Kay) played Daniel’s entrepreneurial neighbour China in the original film. He has gone on to make his name as a stage performer, writing a one-man show, Shine, about growing up in the North East. He’s reprising his role on stage. “It’s an honour to be invited back. To do it on stage, you get to be in the room with people who understand what’s going on.
I really connect with my character personally, because I know a lot of people who went through similar situations and got fed up with the system, who knew that if they were given the opportunity and a fair chance, then things might be different. For me, it’s not just another acting job. It feels like we’re telling a true story.”
In one of the film’s key scenes, Daniel, out of desperation, spray-paints a declaration on the wall of the job centre as an act of protest. “Daniel’s not done anything like that before,” explains Johns. “He’s a law-abiding man, so it’s a big gesture. But when you’re not being listened to, you have no choice.“
Dave, Bryony and Kema are very keen to raise awareness of some of the issues we are currently facing. In Dave’s case: “I want people to get angry – I want them to be furious.”
I, Daniel Blake is in the Courtyard theatre at Leeds Playhouse from 3-7 October.
Book via box office on 0113 213 7700 or online at leedsplayhouse.org.uk.
Photography by Pamela Raith.
