REVIEW: I, Daniel Blake at Newcastle Northern Stage

I, Daniel Blake

Newcastle Northern Stage

Until Saturday 4 April 2026 and touring

Ken Loach’s iconic 2016 film about a middle-aged man with a bad heart battling the welfare state, starring Dave Johns, was an enormous success. It won multiple awards and brought the iniquitous state of the British benefits system into the spotlight, even leading to questions in Parliament. In 2023, Johns worked with Northern Stage and director, Mark Calvert, to adapt Paul Laverty’s film script into a stage play. Its welcome return gives new audiences an opportunity to see just why this powerful story, with its well-judged blend of comedy and heartfelt drama is so highly regarded and, sadly, remains relevant today.

David Nellist as Daniel Blake

The play tells the story of the widowed carpenter and a displaced London woman and her daughter banding together into a family unit, united by their shared battle against the state, in the form of the Department for Work and Pensions. Blake is unfit to work but has been denied sickness benefit by some officious Civil Servant. He is harried into looking for work despite being unable to actually take on a job, whilst he waits interminably to appeal against the unjust decision. He runs into Katie, escaping a London hostel for a flat on Tyneside with her teenage daughter, Daisy. Over time, they develop a bond, based on his need to be helpful and her need for help.

L-R Micky Cochrane, Jodie Wild, David Nellist,
Jessica Johnson, Janine Leigh, Kema Sikazwe

David Nellist reprises his titular role and is marvellous at capturing the bewilderment, despair and crumpled nobility of this highly relatable Everyman. He is also, it should be stressed, extremely funny. The humour that runs through the play is the magical element that makes a story that could have been unbearably tragic, always watchable and entertaining.

Jessica Johnson’s Katie

He is matched by Jessica Johnson’s Katie, in a richly nuanced performance. Initially prickly and defensive, she slowly and believably opens up to Blake, and we learn what brought her to this parlous situation. With a note-perfect London accent, she is completely believable and natural as she gradually faces up to an intolerable situation and finds what she sees as the only way through it. Her bond with Jodie Wild’s vulnerable and engaging Daisy is touching in the extreme.

Kema Sikazwe as China

Janine Leigh does an excellent job of portraying Blake’s nemesis Sheila, the sour face of the intractable DWP. Kema Sikazwe is engaging as his friend, the would-be entrepreneur, China. They both play various other roles also, and Micky Cochrane delivers a series of well-judged cameos as everybody else.

Jodie Wild as Daisy

The action is punctuated by a series of quotes played and projected above the scene, highlighting the dismissive and monstrously uncaring attitudes of politicians, scoring points and cutting costs at the expense of the most vulnerable members of society. These comments seem particularly outrageous, when viewed from the perspective of the play’s protagonists. Hearing Boris Johnson’s plummy-voiced grandstanding actually made me, and others, I suspect, shudder with anger. And that, after all, is the point. We should be angry. Like other influential and timely dramas, such as The Boys From the Black Stuff, I, Daniel Blake puts a human face on what many would prefer to dismiss as mere statistics.

L-R Jessica Johnson, Jodie Wild, David Nellist

Still, this play does not forget that it is a piece of entertainment, however important its message, As well as the humour, the warmth of the scenes between the central trio gives relief from the unfolding tragedy, whilst also adding power to the denouement.

L-R David Nellist, Micky Cochrane

This is a memorable and rewarding evening’s theatre; well-directed, beautifully acted and as entertaining as it is heartbreaking. I had no hesitation in joining the rapturous audience in the standing ovation the cast and creatives richly deserved. As a reviewer, I am usually very glad that Northeast Theatre Guide doesn’t give ratings but if we did, this performance would have fully justified five stars.

Review: Jonathan Cash

Photos: Pamela Raith

Tickets:

Running: 20 March – 2 April 2026 

Box Office: 0191 230 5151

Online: www.northernstage.co.uk