I, Daniel Blake
- Grace Robinson
- Apr 23
- 3 min read
Adapted by Dave Johns, from Paul Laverty's screenplay for the Ken Loach film
Northern Stage with Leeds Playhouse production
HOME Manchester
April 21-25, 2026; 1 hr 40 mins
(also at Leeds Playhouse, April 28-May 9)
In 2019, Dave Johns, who played Daniel in the film, approached director Mark Calvert at Northern Stage to adapt it as a theatre piece.
In 2023, Ken Loach suggested the story is more relevant now than ever - and who better to put it on stage than the original Daniel Blake? It’s hard to disagree as you watch, feeling the frustration build at how little has changed as we witness the slow degradation of a once-proud man.
I, Daniel Blake is a touching and vital story about how people face adversity. Daniel (Dan) played with genuine understanding and wit by David Nellist, represents the common man. He is 59, a widower, a skilled carpenter, and no scrounger. A Geordie through and through, he is recovering from a heart attack. Though his doctor has told him not to work, a DWP assessor awards him too few points to receive benefits. Forced to apply for Jobseeker’s Allowance, we see the stark cruelty of a broken, labyrinthine bureaucratic system.
Dan befriends Katie, a single mum, played with strength and sensitivity by Jessica Johnson, and her teenage daughter, Daisy. Originally from London, they have been rehoused in Newcastle after two years in a hostel, and she is immediately "sanctioned" on arrival - her benefits frozen for a month because Katie was late signing-on after the journey.
As the theatre filled, the dimly lit, functional set of metal, Ikea-like shelving felt momentarily like a prison cell. For Daniel, it resembles an isolation cell - a home without bars, but also without hope. Above hangs a billboard, glowing like a political Big Brother, spouting rhetoric, government adverts and speeches urging us to “vote for change” to “fix broken Britain.” Speeches from Cameron, Johnson, Badenoch, Reeves, May, Starmer and Osborne’s Universal Credit system provoke audible groans of frustration from the audience.
The play is visceral and often funny, taking us behind the gaslighting headlines. Performances are strikingly drawn, blending humour with brave humanity. Dan and Katie are thrown together, sharing acts of kindness alongside neighbour China (deftly played by Kema Sikazwe, who helps Dan navigate endless online DWP forms when he is not selling knock-off trainers). Ten years after the film, little has changed. Another generation - portrayed with standout sensitivity by Jodie Wild as Daisy - faces a bleak future shaped by bullying and poverty.
When Dan, in frustration, spray-paints his demand high on the billboard, the audience erupts in cheers. Later, arrested and sitting in a police station, he is recognised by his old mate’s daughter, now a WPC- a painful reminder of what he has been reduced to.
This powerful production, directed by Mark Calvert, seems to be a heartfelt call to keep telling these stories, until compassion and fairness shape how we care for those most in need. Work and Pensions Secretary Damian Green branded the film "a work of fiction", but sadly Daniel's situation is true for thousands. The play reminds us to keep hope alive and that our communities are threaded with humanity and kindness and we must continue to push back against politics of division.
A small aside: it’s a shame Northern Stage has moved away from printed programmes, cast sheets or even a QR code. I understand the costs, but they add something special. Theatre is losing much to technology but I’d much rather have something tangible in my hand than be scrolling on my phone, and I don't believe I'm alone in that...
