A GRIPPING drama about an abusive relationship between a young girl and an older man finally receives its Liverpool premiere this week
The production of David Harrower’s Blackbird by Southport-based Roots Theatre opens at the Royal Court Studio tomorrow (Wednesday, July 13). It was meant to open back in 2020, soon after lockdown began.
It was too good a project to let go for all involved, and is a chance for audiences to see a name familiar to city theatregoers doing something very different indeed.
Blackbird will see Nick Bagnall - better known for his work behind the scenes - treading the boards in the play for the first time in 13 years.
Nick, former associate director at the Everyman, has been on board to direct the project from the beginning but has only stepped into the lead role since the production got off the ground again, post-pandemic. He spoke to Peter Grant at the Wirral Globe about it last week.
Roots’ founder and producer Bex Culshaw appears opposite him as Una, with Coronation Street actress Harriet Bibby completing the cast.
In Blackbird, Nick plays Ray, a man who is confronted with his past when Una, a character from his past, arrives unannounced at his office. Guilt, rage and raw emotions run high as they recollect their relationship from fifteen years ago, when she was twelve and he was forty.
Blackbird won several awards including Best New Play at the Olivier Awards and in 2016 transferred to Broadway in a production starring Jeff Bridges and Michelle Williams.
The Telegraph described Harrower's drama as "mixing guilt, memory and desire into the most potent of theatrical cocktails.”
It’s the second production for Roots, a local contemporary theatre company aiming to “to connect and empower women through theatre productions and thought-provoking, post show discussion groups”.
Blackbird is on at the Royal Court until Saturday (July 16).
