Yesterday I went to see I, Daniel Blake at Northern Stage. I’m still struggling to find words that do justice to it. To call it “an incredible piece of theatre” seems cheap and lacking as it’s so much more than a play. So I will try and describe it here. (An edited version of this post has been posted on my Twitter.)
I, Daniel Blake is based on the film of the same name that won a Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival in 2016. It follows the life of the eponymous Daniel Blake as he navigates the benefit system after being certified medically unfit to work but not unwell enough to quality for Employment and Support Allowance. Dan meets and befriends Katie Jenkins, a single mother who has recently moved to Newcastle with her ten-year-old daughter Daisy. They all struggle to survive due to the deficient and cyclical benefits system that traps them in poverty.
I, Daniel Blake is theatre at its most powerful. At its most relevant. At its most searing and raw. It maximises the capacity of theatre to show us the world reflected back at ourselves and stir us to action. It makes us angry so that we stay angry and demand change. It shows the effects on real people of the failure of the system. Of what happens when the cracks in the system get bigger and more and more people fall through. Of what happens to good, kind, honest people when the system fails them so badly that they are made desperate. But all of this is not just within the world of the play.
The story is relentlessly connected to the real world through a billboard-style screen at the back of the stage which displays government advertising, election campaigns and real quotes from politicians throughout the show. The quotes are often accompanied by a recording of the politician saying the words on the screen, usually talking about the cost of living crisis, poverty in the UK and the benefits system. The quotes are strategically placed at moments in the play where the juxtaposition of the politicians' words with the characters' lives shows the statements up as shallow and insincere. This is a constant reminder that the world the characters live in is real. It also reminds us who is to blame for many of the problems they face.
I could go on and on about the phenomenal cast, who completely inhabit the characters they play. The incredibly effective staging. The music and lighting which perfectly set the mood and underscore the action. The script, which is by turns relentless, funny, angry and devastating. But the world and its characters are all so real that to talk about the play in terms of technical praise doesn’t seem enough.
Who should see this play? Everyone. Because, as one of the characters says in Act 2, “We’re all to blame if we look the other way”. This play will make you want to push for change and do something to help. But one especially important group of people who should see it is the decision makers. Politicians. Local counsellors, MPs, policymakers, cabinet members, prime ministers. Because it shows the effects of theoretical policy decisions at the sharp end, and the way the current system fails people, again and again. If they see this play, they might just stop and think and start planning to fix the system. Because it needs fixing.
I, Daniel Blake is currently playing a sold-out run at Northern Stage. It is touring later in the year, the full list of dates can be found here.
Find your nearest Trussell Trust foodbank here
Ask your MP to support FareShare's Cost of Living Appeal here
Foodcycle is a community cooking scheme that provides free meals: https://foodcycle.org.uk/
Information about proposed policies to combat food poverty: https://www.foodaidnetwork.org.uk/infographics