An actor from the cast of Ken Loach's Newcastle-made film I, Daniel Blake is also to take the same role in a new stage adaptation which will be having its world premiere in the city this summer.
Kema Sikazwe - who is best known as rapper Kema Kay - played China, a neighbour of Daniel Blake in the Bafta-winning drama, and Northern Stage has announced that he will take the same character in the upcoming theatre production alongside popular local actor David Nellist in the title role. Kema first landed the role of China after impressing Loach during the director's initial visit north to look for potential cast members for his first film in the city which became a huge hit.
Nellist, from Wallsend, whose TV work has included Sherlock, is currently starring in Love It If We Beat Them, the football and politics play which has just ended its premiere run at Live Theatre ahead of a tour and he will be back in the spotlight as Daniel Blake, a man caught up in the red tape of the benefits system.
Playing Katie, his friend and single mother with her own problems, will be Bryony Corrigan who plays series regular Vanessa in The Goes Wrong Show on BBC1. The film's original Daniel Blake meanwhile - actor and comedian Dave Johns - is this man behind the first adaptation of the film whose hard-hitting tragic story connected with audiences around the world.
Read more: Inspiring life story of Kema Kay to be made into TV musical drama
Plans for the stage version were first announced last November and - like Loach's film - the play will make its debut in Newcastle, where it will run at Northern Stage from May 25 to June 10 then go on tour. The theatre has followed up the news this Tuesday by revealing the cast and creative team for the eagerly-awaited new production which is hoped to attract Ken Loach himself and his film team including the original I, Daniel Black screenplay writer Paul Laverty.
The director - who since his Newcastle film shoot for I, Daniel Blake in 2016 has made two further dramas in the North East: Sorry We Missed You and The Old Oak, which is in post-production stage - has said, in light of the financial stresses on people in the cost of living crisis, that: "This story is more relevant now than ever. And who better to put it on stage than Dave Johns, the original Daniel Blake?”
Johns won best actor at the British Independent Film Awards and best newcomer at the Empire Awards for his role in the film which itself won the coveted Palme d’Or as well as the Bafta in 2017 for outstanding British best film. He has made some changes to the drama, saying: "I didn’t just want to put the film on stage.
"I wanted to update the story for 2023, making it contemporary and exploring more of single mum Katie’s journey and the family unit she forms with Daniel. To show the kindness, compassion, humour, and hope that can help us through the toughest of times."
He was disheartened during his research, he says, to find not much has changed since the film, especially given the cost of living crisis adding to people's struggles. " The story is still as relevant as it was in 2016," he said. "Daniel and Katie’s story could be anyone’s.”
The rest of the newly announced cast for the show, which will include music by The Futureheads' Ross Millard, are Janine Leigh who appeared alongside Joanne Froggatt in Channel 4 film In Our Name; Micky Cochrane, whose CV includes Billy Elliot the Musical and a starring role in Ed Waugh's Carrying David, and former Northern Stage Young Company member Jodie Wild who will be making her professional stage debut.
The play's director Mark Calvert said: “It’s a big responsibility to honour the film but also to find ways to raise awareness of the hardship huge numbers of people in our country are facing right now." He added: "For me I, Daniel Blake frames the working class experience in modern Britain - there’s hope, humour and humanity in the story but audiences should feel angry and outraged; I know I am."
To book tickets for the premiere run of I, Daniel Blake, which is a Northern Stage co-production, see here.
Read Next
