Scouse actors Mark Womack & Jay Johnson talk all things Boys From the Blackstuff in this exclusive interview.
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00:00You're also going to Liverpool where the play's set, so how are you feeling about that?
00:06Nervous, I am. Mark's done the show there before. I have done the show there but I'm still excited
00:10because it's a different theatre and that'll bring in a different audience. The Royal Court Theatre's
00:15got their own kind of loyal audience, so as with the Empire where we're taking the show,
00:23that's got a loyal audience too, so it'll be a different audience. They're all scouts,
00:29so it'll be great just to share it again with a bunch of Liverpool people.
00:35For you it's great because you've got all your family coming.
00:37Yeah, I've got all my mates and my family coming which will be nice, but I think as well,
00:42as I did say, I was nervous about taking the day. I think that's a good thing as well because
00:47if we weren't nervous or apprehensive about taking the day, whatever the word
00:53is that you want to use, I don't think we're in the right job because this is, as I said before,
00:58it's a story that can resonate throughout the country and it has done in the places that we've
01:02been previous. Even Windsor. Even Windsor, yeah, which we were surprised about. But I think the
01:10people of Liverpool hold this story so close to their heart and the characters because it is a
01:20story about Liverpool, about Liverpool people, about the heart, the passion, the defiance,
01:24the humour that we have. It's an exciting opportunity to take it back to Liverpool,
01:30to the brand new theatre as Mark said, but it's telling that same story in a slightly,
01:37maybe a little bit of a different way than what I've seen before. So,
01:41yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Why should people buy tickets to come see you?
01:48Why do you think? I would say, you know, in saying everything we've already said,
01:55it is really funny as well. Yes. You've got everything in this play. You've got humour,
02:00you've got, it's thought-provoking, it's heartbreaking at times. There's an amazing
02:07sequence. It's a fight scene. I won't tell you any more and it literally will break people's
02:13hearts when they see it. It always does. It never fails. So, it's really got everything,
02:21you know. Put that TV remote down and come out and see a proper play and good acting and songs,
02:28humour. You'll laugh, you'll cry. I agree. I think we live in an age now where
02:39entertainment, shall we call it, is so accessible. It's at our fingertips, whether it's Netflix,
02:46Instagram Reels, TikToks, YouTube, Amazon, whatever it may be, that we can get lost in that
02:54world. It's very easy to get lost in that world and it's very easy to start something,
03:00pause it, go to the toilet, make a cup of tea. Whereas when you come to the theatre,
03:05for those two hours, your phone's off, hopefully, and you're just engrossed in what's going on on
03:12the stage and it's in touching distance. We have cups of tea and stuff in the show and you can see
03:21the steam coming off them. We have food, you know, there's like the black stuff which is the
03:30tarmac, that's in like a big, what do you call it, bucket and there's smoke coming off it.
03:37So, there's these things that you can smell. Someone's having a cigarette in the scene,
03:41you can smell it. It allows your imagination to be fully invested in it and there's no distractions
03:48and because it's so close, I think those emotional moments and the moments of comedy
03:56sort of hit more because, as I say, hopefully you're more invested because you're there,
04:01you can almost touch it, you can smell things, you can see it and it's much more of an experience,
04:10I think. So yeah, come and see us.