James Graham’s acclaimed adaptation of Alan Bleasdale’s Boys from the Blackstuff is touring the UK in 2025 – and has now added more dates.
James Graham’s powerful new adaptation of Alan Bleasdale’s BAFTA award-winning TV drama first premiered at Liverpool’s Royal Court last September, and played the National Theatre in May, followed by a West End run at the Garrick Theatre. Read reviews from the critics.
The tour starts at the Theatre Royal Windsor on 29 January 2025 until 8 February, and then travels the UK, including Richmond Theatre from 11 February, and its home city at the Liverpool Empire from 25 to 29 March 2025.
Further tour dates have now been added including Cheltenham Everyman Theatre (8 – 12 April 2025); Salford The Lowry (22 – 26 April 2025); Guildford Yvonne Arnaud Theatre (29 April – 3 May 2025); Leeds Grand Theatre (13 – 17 May 2025); Newcastle Theatre Royal (20 – 24 May 2025); Stoke-on-Trent Regent Theatre (10 – 14 June 2025); and Brighton Theatre Royal (17 – 21 June 2025).
Further dates are to be announced, as is casting for the tour.
Boys from the Blackstuff is directed by Kate Wasserberg, Artistic Director of Theatr Clwyd, and has set and costume design by Amy Jane Cook, lighting design by Ian Scott, movement direction by Rachael Nanyonjo, original music composed and sound design by Dyfan Jones, video design by Jamie Jenkin, fight direction by Rachel Bown-Williams of RC-Annie Ltd and associate movement direction by Jocelyn Prah. Associate Director is Tim Welton.
Writer James Graham said in a statement back in July when the tour was first announced: “Alan Bleasdale’s masterpiece is, infamously, a story proudly forged in the humour and voice of Liverpool, and it was a real honour and a thrill to open it to packed houses there last year, before bringing our show to London and the West End. But Boys from the Blackstuff remains such a story of national significance, with a lasting impact on British culture, that taking it on the road, to communities around the country, feels like the most important thing we could be doing with our story next, and I’m delighted by the support and the belief from Bill Kenwright Ltd, and Liverpool’s Royal Court that birthed it.”
Writer Alan Bleasdale said: “I never expected Boys from the Blackstuff to be quite the sell-out sensation it has become at Liverpool’s Royal Court, at the National Theatre and then in London’s West End. What I always hoped was that the rest of the country might have a chance to see this magnificent adaptation by James Graham. Now, that has been made possible by Bill Kenwright Ltd who have staged my theatre work since Are You Lonesome Tonight over forty years ago!”
Book tickets to Boys from the Blackstuff – UK Tour
UPDATES: First published 18 July 2024 with news of the tour; Updated 30 October 2024 with further dates announced
Related News
Star-studded lineup confirmed for National Youth Theatre’s 70th Anniversary show Letters to My Younger Self
Full cast announced for new James Graham play: Thomas Flynn and more to join Rory Kinnear in West End production
Critically acclaimed Cirque Berserk! Returns to West End for limited run this Autumn
Everything you need to know about One Day the Musical at the Garrick Theatre
Latest News
Broadway legend Patti LuPone returns to the London Coliseum for Valentine’s Day 2027
Helen of Troy never got to tell her side. Watch the trailer for the play that does
After a sell-out world tour, The Choir of Man returns to the West End this Christmas
