Breezeblock Park
‘Particularly noteworthy about Breezeblock Park, is that the farce is a comedy of working- class manners and that fact alone makes it highly unusual and important. The play, it seems, is genuinely aimed at working-class audiences and has a freshness and honesty and, perhaps most significantly, a sense of realism, that allow it a context of popular theatre arguably unlike anything written by another playwright.’
POPULISM, THE MAINSTREAM THEATRE, AND THE PLAYS OF WILLY RUSSELL - Christopher N Jones
BETTY
If it wasn't for the few things I buy, I would have cut my throat years ago. But she begrudges me my few pleasures. I wouldn't mind, but I'm not asking for very much am I? I live on an estate that's like a….a camp for refugees, my only entertainment's a Saturday night in the social club, I work forty-nine weeks a year doin' a job that took me half a day to learn. And she begrudges me the few pleasures that I get. Well, I'm tellin' you, Miss Criticize - many's the time, many's the time that a trip round the supermarket an' a new find on the shelves has stopped me goin' home an' puttin' my head in the gas oven.
Act Two – Breezeblock Park
Original Production
Liverpool Everyman Theatre, 1975
Director - Alan Dossor
Cast
Betty - Eileen O’Brien
Vera - Julie Walters
Tommy - Kevin Lloyd
Ted - Nicholas Stringer
Syd - Peter Postlethwaite
Reeny - Jane Wood
Tim - Christopher Blake
Sandra - Emma Jean Richards
John - Michael Radcliffe
Breezeblock Park is set on a Liverpool housing estate at Christmas
“Trenchantly observed...hilarious, upsetting and somewhat seditious.”
Variety
Mermaid Theatre London, 1977
Producer - Michael Codron in association with The Mermaid Theatre
Director - Alan Dossor
Cast
Betty - Wendy Craig
Vera - Julie Walters
Tommy - Peter Postlethwaite
Ted - Norman Rossington
Syd - Ken Jones
Reeny - Eilleen Kennally
Tim - Ian Redford
Sandra - Emma Jean Richards
John - David Neilson
1977 - Whitehall Theatre, London
Producer - Colin Brough
Director - Alan Dossor
Cast
As above but with following changes:
Betty – Prunella Scales
Syd - Bernard Gallagher
Tim – Anthony O’Donnell
Caroline Aherne
from her Sunday Times Style Magazine column
The following is a true story. It will inspire you and give you hope. It reveals one true fact that we all forget - that, in life, anything is possible.
Recently I received a letter from the brilliant playwright Willy Russell. In it he explained that he had been sorting through some old boxes of correspondence and had come across a fan letter from 13 years ago from a girl called Caroline Aherne and he was wondering if it was me. He enclosed the said letter and instantly I recognised my own handwriting.
So indeed it was from me, written while I was studying drama at Liverpool Polytechnic. Now, the fact that I wrote a fan letter to this man is not the point of this - I believe Russell is a genius and I am still a huge fan. It is the fact that a more excruciating embarrassing letter is hard to imagine. I actually cringed when I read my weak attempts at humour and my first thought was to bin it and forget about it.
But then I remembered my new responsibility as a columnist and, bravely and unselfishly, I am now going to lay bare the contents of that letter, word for word, to enable hope to reign eternal in your hearts. It goes as follows:
Dear Mr Russell,
Well, this is just a letter to congratulate you on your plays and to tell you to keep up the good work. I have seen Educating Rita, which was really good. In fact, Willy, it made me laugh very much although I still think they should have got off together at the end (this is purely the only criticism I have for the play, by the way).
I have read Breezeblock Park but not seen it; it was really funny. I saw Blood Brothers, which I found excellent Thus Will, it seems I am probably your biggest fan since I've liked everything I've seen so far. I myself was going to write a bestselling international play, but I haven't had the time as of yet. If you're stuck for ideas for any new plays or films, base one on me - I'm 22½ years old, full of fun and there's plenty of mileage to be had out of me.
Anyway, congratulations again, Will, keep writing the winners. (That's my advice).
Love from a big fan,
Caroline Aherne xxx
’Breezeblock’ has always been close to my heart. In part, I suppose, that’s because it’s one of those plays that’s always had to struggle a bit. When I first delivered the script it was greeted with deafening disinterest. Then there was open hostility from some of the heavy-duty lefties of the mid seventies who believed that in any depiction of working class life and culture, only the rulers and exploiters should be targets for criticism and even ridicule. I’d seen Ayckbourn present lacerating portraits of middle class life and culture to middle class audiences who purred and screamed their delight as they revelled in hysterical reflections of their capacity for awfulness. To me it seemed a bit unfair that in theatre – as opposed to TV - working class audiences should not treated with similar respect and trust in their being sufficiently robust to withstand (and even enjoy ) an informed and unflinching portrayal of their faults, foibles, pretensions, and posturings. Of course, once it went into production, the play then had to contend with critics and academics who could never accept that something presented in the form of a big broad comedy could, at its heart, be deadly serious.
Liverpool Playhouse, 2003
Producer - -Jo Beddoe, for Liverpool/Everyman Theatre
Director - Glen Walford
Cast
Betty - Pauline Daniels
Reeny - Joanna Munro
Vera - Sophie Stanton
Sandra - Annabelle Dowler
Ted - Andrew Schofield
Syd - Michael Starke
Tommy - Neil Caple
John - Ray Newe
Tim - Stephen Fletcher
