Extra friends

ARROW-born playwright Peter Flannery admits he never thought hefd see his original version of Our Friends In The North take to the stage again after its 1982 Royal Shakespeare Company debut. The play disappeared for 15 years before being turned into the awardwinning BBC series which industry professionals have voted the 25th most important programme of the 20th Century. The four main actors, Christopher Eccleston, Peterleefs Gina McKee, Daniel Craig and Mark Strong, all forged promising careers out of the story reflecting North- East, national and international scandals and, in the case of Craig, going on to save the world as 007.

gIt is pleasing to see they made their first real impact on television in that and will always be associated with something of mine,h says Flannery, although he jokes that non-Geordies like Craig probably had stronger accents by the end of the 44-week shoot than when they started.

Now the massive work, requiring 14 actors to play 43 characters over 17 years, has North-East audiences clamoring for tickets at Newcastlefs Northern Stage for a run lasting until October 20.

gThe number of costumes runs into the seventies because theyfre all playing people over a period of time.

This is an epic play and great to see the Rhodesia scenes back in. The TV said ewe canft do the Rhodesia storyf.

I nearly didnft do it because of that but Ifm glad I did now,h he says of the sensitivity about white rule issues in the 80s and 90s.

Is he amazed about the current scandals haunting a Labour Government and Zimbabwe, which replaced Rhodesia, again in turmoil so closely reflecting the issues of 1982?

gThe horrible thing about the Rhodesia story is that the nice white racists who caused a bitter civil war defended themselves by saying eif we let the Africans take over this country it will become an absolute shamblesf. All the things that you want to deny with every breath in your body are very true because Mugabe has become a despot although he was a hero in the play,h says Flannery.

But he wasnft tempted to update Our Friends to the current day even though Flannery regards ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair as gworse than anything I was criticising in the play. I was criticising the slipperiness of the Wilson and Callaghan years but their lies pale into insignificance compared to Blairfs lies about Iraq.h gI was only 28 when I wrote the play which is a bit scary because itfs exactly half my life ago. I also discovered this 28-year-old writer who would never use one word when three would do,h jokes Flannery.

He admits to being flattered and equite movedf by Northern Stagefs artistic director Erica Whyman, who is helming the revival, announcing that Our Friends was coming home.

He says: gItfs the first time the play has been revived for 25 years.

gI didnft really expect to see it again because it was first done in 1982 and then people had nearly 15 years to revive it before it was on TV, but they didnft. It did seem that bringing back Our Friends In The North and indeed Singer, my other big play for the RSC, wasnft top of their agenda. These decisions are made by directers, donft forget, and not by audiences. When the TV series came out I thought ethatfs probably killed it stone dead, they wonft want to stage it because of this seriesf.h Now hefs seen Newcastle-based actors Craig Conway, Sonia Beinroth, Joe Renton and Neil Armstrong cast as Geordie, Mary, Nicky and Tosker, but Flannery argues that itfs not automatic that Tyneside roles should be ring-fenced for Geordies. gIt used to be said only Geordies should play Geordies, but I think you get the best actors you can,h says Flannery who took some flak with the TV series dubbed eOur Friends In The Southf because only McKee is from the region.

TV-wise hefs writing another BBC adventure for Martin Shaw as George Gently, the North-East set police drama based on Alan Hunterfs books. gTheyfre always set in 1964 so that there is still the fear of hanging.

Martin Shaw told me that hefs had the best personal response to anything hefs done on TV for Gently.

So wefre doing two more and Ifm writing one. If they go well I can see us doing more and more,h says Flannery, who is also busy adapting another of Agatha Christiefs Poirot whodunits for filming in 2008.

gMost important to me is a fourpart series for Channel 4 about the English Civic War and the commonwealth which is called The Devilfs Whore. That will be filmed in April. It is time for the republican side of the argument to be put before the public and itfs a very sexy story and there will be a lot of fuss about that. Itfs coming as a huge surprise to people that Puritans had a sex life. I think they got a bad press,h he jokes, also revealing that his latest play, Burnt By The Sun, based on the Oleg Menchikov film about Stalinfs purges, opens at the National Theatre next year.

Our Friends In The North runs at Northern Stage until Saturday, October 20, performances at 7pm plus Sat 13 & Sat 20 at 1.30pm. Box Office: 0191-230-5151