Mark Calvert Archives - North West End UK

It’s too glib to simply give this a theatrical review. Yes, it’s well-acted, well-lit, commitment and emotion running through the production from top to bottom, but to thoughtlessly term it ‘entertainment’ would be to miss the point entirely. Roughly eight years after a financial crash laid bare the clandestine, labyrinthine world of modern finance, providing a golden, once-in-a-generation opportunity to reform the rotting edifice, the film ‘I Daniel Blake’ was released, illustrating by how far this opportunity had been missed. Mysteriously, by 2016, many of the architects of the 2008 disaster were somehow richer than they’d ever been. Clearly there was still wealth-a-go-go in the country; it just kept winding up in the same pockets while ‘austerity’ persisted unabated, resulting in cut...

In 2016 Ken Loach’s groundbreaking film rocked the heart of the establishment, forcing politicians to speak of the issues it raised in parliament and for one to remark it was ‘a work of fiction’. Daniel Blake may have been a fictional character, but the powerful story was anything but fiction. People were trapped in the universal credit system and the poorest in our society were the ones who were forgotten and ignored. The actor who played Daniel, Dave Johns, has now adapted the screenplay for the stage and tiny dragon productions are touring it to appreciative audiences around the country. This play is still relevant and whilst the cost-of-living crisis hits once again the poorest in our society, the message that Daniel Blake is a human being who deserves respect reso...

Tag: Mark Calvert

I, Daniel Blake – Traverse Theatre

I, Daniel Blake – Liverpool Playhouse