Nostalgia has become a lucrative commodity. From Take That to Steps, the reunion tour has evolved into a reliable cultural ritual, inviting audiences to relive happier times while asking whether former stars can ever truly recapture the magic. Tom Peters’ The Boys We Were explores that familiar territory, using the reunion of fictional boyband The Boiz to examine friendship, regret and the uneasy transition from fleeting fame to ordinary life.
Former manager Max (John Joyce-O’Keeffe) attempts to reunite his fractured protégés for a television special and tour, only to discover that old resentments have never really disappeared. Successful solo artist Jay (Rob Peters) remains estranged from Lee (Tom Peters), whose bitterness over the band’s collapse continues to simmer, while Ry (Billy Doherty) clings to minor celebrity with outsized confidence and Daz (Patrick Jeffries) has exchanged pop stardom for family pressures, financial worries and an altogether more recognisable existence.
The production’s biggest challenge is deciding precisely what it wants to be. Marketed as a comedy-drama, it sits awkwardly between broad, laddish humour and a more serious exploration of middle-aged male isolation, never fully committing to either. Beneath the jokes lie genuinely affecting ideas about loneliness, fading relevance and the emotional cost of defining yourself through career success. Yet those themes are too often interrupted by blokey banter and tales of excess that rarely earn the laughs they seek.
At just 45 minutes, the production feels more like the opening chapter of a larger story than a complete dramatic journey. Interesting character arcs are introduced but never fully developed, leaving motivations underexplored and emotional revelations arriving before the audience has had time to invest. There is the outline of a thoughtful examination of masculinity and friendship here, but the running time simply doesn’t allow the characters the space to evolve beyond familiar types.
Patrick Jeffries’ Daz emerges as the evening’s emotional anchor. His struggles with family life, financial pressures and the loss of identity after fame feel authentic and relatable. Alongside him, Billy Doherty’s Ry is played with an easy, naturalistic Northern charm that makes even the character’s inflated ego oddly likeable. Together they bring a warmth and credibility that hints at the stronger drama the play might have become.
Unfortunately, the knockabout humour fares less well. Stories of drunken exploits and backstage antics are met more often with polite smiles than genuine laughter, the laddish comedy feeling, much like the fictional boyband itself, comfortably past its sell-by date. Rather than illuminating the characters, these moments often distract from the more compelling emotional questions the play raises.
Director Holly Ravenscroft opts for an understated, static staging that keeps the focus firmly on the dialogue, although it does little to generate dramatic momentum. The Boys We Were contains the seeds of an engaging piece about ageing, regret and enduring friendship, but it needs both greater emotional confidence and a broader canvas if those ideas are to hit home.
Reviewer Paul Wilcox
Reviewed: 20th July 2026
North West End UK Rating:
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