Chat with Boys From The Blackstuff stars before North East shows

NewcastleWorld

Actors Mark Womack and Jay Johnson share their excitement at bringing Boys From the Blackstuff to Newcastle Theatre Royal

Transcript

00:00You're going up to the North East because you're going to Newcastle.

00:02Yeah.

00:03Yeah.

00:03So how are you feeling about Newcastle?

00:05I'm really excited about Newcastle because it's a port city and, you know, plays.

00:10There's the docks and even though it's about the black stuff, but the docks feature quite strongly in the play.

00:17The whole thing about port cities and the romance of port cities and the songs and everything.

00:23And also there's definitely a kinship Glasgow as well.

00:26We're going to between people from Liverpool and Newcastle and Glasgow.

00:33I think there's definitely some sort of connection somewhere.

00:38So I'm excited about that.

00:41Anything to add on Newcastle?

00:43No, I'm looking forward to Newcastle.

00:45I've only been there a couple of times before just for pleasure, not for work.

00:50So it'd be nice to go on to perform there and again, tell another working class story to working class people.

00:57And, you know, I know up in that area of the country, they went through their own sort of hardships with like minor strikes and stuff like that.

01:08That sort of went on around, you know, the sort of the north-east area.

01:13So that again, that's another tie that sort of binds us together with this story.

01:19It's touching on similar aspects and, you know, we have a video thing at the start and you see a certain politician of that time,

01:32which maybe may rile a few emotions in people as well.

01:37So, yeah, I'm looking forward to it.

01:38Why should people buy tickets to come see you?

01:43Why do you think?

01:46I would say, you know, in saying everything we've already said, it is really funny as well.

01:52Yes.

01:52You've got everything in this play.

01:54You've got humour.

01:56You've got, it's thought-provoking.

01:59It's heartbreaking at times.

02:01There's an amazing sequence.

02:04It's a fight scene.

02:06I won't tell you any more and it literally will break people's hearts when they see it.

02:10It always does.

02:11It never fails.

02:14So it's really got everything, you know.

02:17Put that TV remote down and come out and see a proper play and good acting and songs, humour.

02:25You'll laugh, you'll cry.

02:27Yeah.

02:28No, I agree.

02:29Yeah, I think we live in an age now where entertainment, shall we call it, is so accessible.

02:39It's at our fingertips, whether it's, you know, Netflix, Instagram Reels, TikToks, YouTube, Amazon, whatever it may be.

02:46And that we can get lost in that as well.

02:50It's very easy to get lost in that world.

02:53And it's very easy to start something, pause it, go to the toilet, make a cup of tea.

02:58Whereas when you come to the theatre, for those two hours, your phone's off, hopefully.

03:02And you're, you know, you're just engrossed in what's going on on the stage and, you know, whether, and it's in touching distance.

03:12And, you know, we have cups of tea and stuff in the show and you can see the steam coming off them.

03:18We have food, you know, there's, like, the black stuff, which is the tarmac that's in, like, a big, what do you call it, bucket.

03:30And there's smoke coming off it.

03:33So you can, there's these things that you can smell.

03:35Someone's having a cigarette in the scene, you can smell it.

03:38It allows your imagination to be fully invested in it.

03:42And there's no distractions.

03:45And because it's so close, I think those emotional moments and the moments of comedy sort of hit more.

03:53Because, as I say, hopefully you're more invested because you're there.

03:56You can almost touch it.

03:57You can smell things.

03:58You can see it.

03:59And it's much more of an experience, I think.

04:06So, yeah, come and see us.

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