The enduring quartet of characters created by dramatist Peter Flannery—lawyer-councillor Mary, philanderer Tosker, journalist Nicky, and petty criminal Geordie—has returned to the stage at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle. Originally debuting with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1982, the saga has spanned various formats over the decades, including a 10-hour BBC Two series in 1996 and a Radio 4 adaptation in 2022. While the original stage production covered the years between 1964 and 1979, this latest iteration narrows its scope to the 1979–1985 period, effectively adapting the sixth and seventh episodes of the televised version. Drifting philanderer Tosker, photo-journalist Nicky and petty criminal Geordie, the 1982 RSC world premiere of Our Friends in the North featured almost four hours in the lives of lawyer-councillor Mary. With Labour PM Harold Wilson promising a new Britain, the first stage version ended in 1979, as Margaret Thatcher’s victory heralded a rightwing transformation, starting in 1964. The TV version took them to 1995 (brink of Blair) and the radio one to 2020 (Boris Johnson and Covid), exploiting the way that saga dramas test characters against landmark events. But Flannery has tracked back to 1979-85, adapting the sixth (Thatcher in) and seventh (miners out) TV episodes, it would be intriguing to know if the idealism of these now triple-locked pensioner characters burns again under Burnham.
The narrative remains deeply rooted in the interplay between domestic drama and significant socialist history. Flannery’s script examines the Thatcher era, tracing the political landscape from the arrival of the Conservatives to the miners’ strike. The production adopts a Kinnockian political lens, suggesting that the actions of Arthur Scargill and Labour’s Militant tendency helped fuel a right-wing voter base that sustained eighteen years of Conservative rule. Notably, Jude Nelson delivers a compelling performance as a Tory MP who manages an early, symbolic breach of Labour’s “red wall.” Accusing Labour’s Militant tendency and miners’ union leader Arthur Scargill of swelling a rightwing electorate that led to 18 years of Tory rule, the politics are Kinnockian.
Trevor Fox, a veteran of previous television and radio iterations of the story, serves as a bridge for the audience. He performs in the role of the Chorus—reminiscent of Shakespeare’s Henry V—to frame the historical context, while also playing Nicky’s father, Felix, who suffers from dementia. This dual role adds a layer of poignancy, serving as a reminder of the character’s history for long-time followers of the saga.
Director Jack McNamara’s production leans into the challenges of adapting such an expansive epic, sometimes employing stylistic choices like slow-motion lighting to emphasize confrontations between picketing miners and police. The romantic tension between Sam Neale’s Mary and Ryan Nolan’s Nicky underscores the personal costs of activism, while Jack Robertson and Scott Turnbull effectively capture the frustration of lives left unfulfilled, illustrating a bleak sub-theme of wasted potential.
Ultimately, while the play serves as a vital piece for dedicated fans, the compression required to fit the story into a single theatre production leaves some aspects feeling incomplete. As Fox notes in his role as the Chorus, there is always more to say. Despite the logistical constraints preventing a full-day epic format, the return of these characters to Newcastle highlights their continued cultural significance and the enduring impact of the historical events they navigate. Like the Chorus in Henry V, galvanising our imaginations and dropping historical footnotes, a piece begun when he was an RSC writer in residence always had Shakespearean ambitions and these continue with the tremendous Trevor Fox.
