Boys From The Blackstuff Tickets

Kate Wasserberg has been appointed as the new Artistic Director of Theatr Clwyd. Wasserberg, a hugely experienced and respected director, was Artistic Director of both new writing company Stockroom and Cardiff’s The Other Room and has directed major productions that have toured nationally and internationally. An award-winning theatre maker she has a long connection with Theatr Clwyd, serving with distinction as Associate Director under Terry Hands as well as, more recently, directing hit productions of All My Sons, Insignificance and The Rise and Fall of Little Voice at the Flintshire-based venue. Kate Wasserberg replaces former Artistic Director Tamara Harvey who joins the Royal Shakespeare Company as Co-Artistic Director this summer, with Daniel Evans. On her appointment Kate Wasserberg said: “I am so delighted to be joining the amazing team at Theatr Clwyd to take this remarkable organisation into a bright future. Wales has the best artists in the world and I am beyond honoured to have the opportunity to make my home there. In our extraordinary new building, we will make a home for audiences, artists and the community that is world-class in its artistic output and the way it cares for people. I have watched with joy a culture of kindness and ambition being grown at Theatr Clwyd, and I want to thank the board for seeing in me a leader who can continue to build on these values.I can’t wait to begin!” Kate will work in partnership with Executive Director Liam Evans-Ford who said: “I’m extremely excited. The quality of Kate’s theatre making, the knowledge and appreciation she has for Welsh Theatre and Welsh talent, and her deep love and appreciation of Theatr Clwyd are only some of the reasons for such excitement. To work alongside Kate will be an honour, and I am certain that with her artistic leadership we will build upon the company’s success, both on and off the stage, as we prepare to open our new building and continue to deliver high quality work for our communities.” Theatr Clwyd’s Chair of The Board, Helen Watson added: “After a rigorous recruitment process we are delighted with the appointment of Kate Wasserberg. Kate impressed throughout the process with her immense talent, proven track record and passion for Welsh Theatre. There is no doubt that with such an accomplished Artistic Director at the helm of our theatre that this will be a very special time for communities, and an exciting new chapter for Theatr Clwyd.’ One of the UK’s leading directors, the award-winning Kate Wasserberg was Artistic Director of Stockroom, founding Artistic Director of Cardiff’s The Other Room and an Associate Director for both Theatr Clwyd and Finborough Theatre. Leading playwright James Graham said on social media "Wonderful Kate directed some of my earliest plays at the @finborough pub theatre, and is directing our BOYS FROM THE BLACKSTUFF in Liverpool this year. North Wales, you lucky people! (And she lucky to have YOU)." Her productions have included: The Glee Club, Close Quarters and Rita, Sue and Bob Too (Stockroom); Blasted, The Dying of Today, Play/Silence, Sand and Seanmhair (The Other Room); Aristocrats, Salt, Root and Roe, Glengarry Glen Ross, Roots, Gaslight, Dancing at Lughnasa, Pieces (also Brits Off Broadway), The Glass Menagerie, A History of Falling Things, All My Sons, Insignificance and The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (Theatr Clwyd); Mirror Teeth, The Man, Sons of York, Little Madam, The Representative, I Wish to Die Singing and The New Morality (Finborough Theatre); The Barnbow Canaries (Leeds Playhouse); Ten Weeks (Paines Plough); The Knowledge (Dirty Protest at the Royal Court); Switzerland (Hightide) and Last Christmas (Edinburgh Festival). She has won two Wales Theatre Awards for Best Director and as Artistic Director of Cardiff’s The Other Room the venue won The Stage Newspaper Award’s Fringe Theatre of the Year. She is the joint editor of Contemporary Welsh Plays, published by Methuen. Her forthcoming projects include Alice in Wonderland adapted by Stockroom (Liverpool Playhouse and Theatre Royal Plymouth) and Boys from the Blackstuff by James Graham (Liverpool Royal Court).

Stockroom has announced the departure of Artistic Director Kate Wasserberg as the company completes a transition to a new business model following drastic cuts to its funding. Wasserberg was Artistic Director for five years and has been instrumental in the new direction and radical restructure of the company which began two years ago. The move continues the company’s purposeful evolution, which will now predominantly focus on writer and script development following its loss of Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation status announced in October. The restructure will mean the ongoing relationship between Stockroom and its partners will be focused on the artistic vision of theatres and production companies who commission its work. As a result, Artistic Director Kate Wasserberg will step down and the new structure will see the writer-led company steered by Executive Producer and CEO Martin Derbyshire and a team of six salaried artists with freelance artists joining the company for individual projects. Alys Beider has also been appointed as the new Head of Finance and Operations, as the company transition to a model sustainable outside the NPO. Amidst existential risks to new writing in theatre, the company will offer partners organisations scripts that have been specifically commissioned and developed for venues with all upfront costs being covered by Stockroom, allowing venues to commission more diverse and inclusive work for their main stages with fewer financial risks. Wasserberg will remain connected to the company, directing Stockroom’s 2023 productions of Alice in Wonderland (with Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse and in association with Plymouth Theatre Royal) and James Graham’s adaptation of Alan Bleasdale’s Boys from the Blackstuff (with Liverpool’s Royal Court). Outgoing AD Kate Wasserberg said "The Writers Room is a truly courageous creative endeavour, and I am very proud to have been a part of Stockroom’s transformation to a company that salaries writers. I look forward to collaborating with the company in 2023, and to seeing the wonderful plays I know the writers will create in future." Stockroom Executive producer Martin Derbyshire said "The loss of our NPO funding is a huge disappointment but we will continue in our aim of getting a wider variety of stories, by more diverse groups of writers, onto main stages across the company. Our focus for the coming year will be our salaried artists working directly with partners to guide the artistic future of the company. We’re immensely grateful to Kate for all her work over the past five years and I’m delighted we can continue to work with her to bring more exciting projects to the stage in 2023." He added "The entire staff of Stockroom have helped to shape the future of the company and we’re excited about the year ahead and facing the challenges of make work in this difficult political and financial environment." “The trustees and joint executive made a commitment to revolution, reimagination reinvention in 2020. After two years of internal & external evaluation, we’re resetting our relationship with the Arts Council through an agile artistic structure that puts a multiplicity of writers at its heart. We’re grateful to Kate for all she has personally contributed to this unique model” said Stockroom Chair Mark Powell. Stockroom is a writers room for theatre, and the Stockroom Artists produce new work for midscale stages around the country. Dedicated to script creation and a radical new approach to playwriting, the company is a creative hub with over 25 years experience finding some of the nation’s most influential writers.

Oliver Award winning scribe James Graham will adapt Alan Bleasdale’s Boy's From The Blackstuff for the stage, it has been announced. Set in '80s Liverpool, Bleasdale’s ground-breaking drama follows five men trying to make ends meet while job opportunities are scarce. James Graham said today: "Alan Bleasdale is one of the reasons I became a writer. Watching his work as I was growing up, hearing those voices and seeing those worlds, meant a lot to someone from my background. I could never have dared dream that years later I would be working with him, and on his most famous, heartbreaking, hilarious masterpiece. But Alan is the most generous and supportive of collaborators and it’s been one of the honours of my writing life thus far to work on this show." Graham, who is widely lauded in theatre circles has recently won plaudits for his BBC series Sherwood starring Leslie Manville which explores the legacy of mining communities in Nottinghamshire. Alan Bleasdale said: “Almost all of my stage plays are set in one location and using real time. The one attempt I made to use multiple characters and multiple sets and the passage of time was a disaster. So, when the idea of the stage version of the series was suggested with James Graham as the writer I just thought: I don’t know how to do it. But James does. Bleasdale added “ While I’m pleased that the work is still well regarded, the biggest sadness for me is that in the forty years since I wrote The Boys from the Blackstuff we might have hoped that things would get better. But they haven’t. Have they?” Stockroom and Liverpool's Royal Court will produce the show which will run at the Royal Court from 15 September to 28 October 2023. Stockroom Artistic Director Kate Wasserberg will direct. Kate Wasserberg said "They say never meet your heroes, but I have never had a happier and prouder professional moment than when I introduced two of mine - Alan Bleasdale and James Graham. They are kindred spirits, and this production, about courage and despair, oppression and hilarity, is the very best of them both. Sadly the struggles of the 1980s don't feel like history, we are all feeling the pain and the rage, the absurd cruelty and confusion of those times in the here and now. I hope the show will be a fantastic night out with big laughs, some anger and some tears, a celebration of Liverpool, of workers, and of the power of community when things get tough. I can't wait.  In addition to Sherwood, Graham wrote the stage play and tv adaptation of Quiz which is based on the Who Want's To Be A Millionaire coughing major scandal. His notable West End productions include This House, Ink, Labour of Love and The Vote. He is also working on at least two musicals - an adaptation of George Orwell's Animal Farm with Alan Menken and a new musical based on US televangelist Tammy Faye with Elton John and the play Best of Enemies. Further creatives and casting to be announced.