Stage arrangement of 'I, Daniel Blake'

Ten years on from the release of the Ken Loach film ‘I Daniel Blake’ and Northern Stage is showing a fantastic stage arrangement. I highly recommend a visit.

A wonderful piece of theatre but it’s also frustrating to reflect on how current the storyline still is.

I watched the film when it came out 10 years ago. I sat in the cinema and cried and cried. Then I felt so angry and called to action. I came back to advocacy office fired up and suggested we fundraise for a welfare advocate in CVA. We did a crowd fund campaign and got Mr Loach involved.

We don’t have funding for this role anymore sadly. But the funding we receive from other sources like the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, National Lottery Fund and NHS Northeast and North Cumbria Trust allow us to support people navigate health, social, legal and criminal systems. Advocates will fight for people’s rights and challenge the discrimination that we see in the characters in the play/film. Advocates will fill in the complicated forms, use computerised systems to help access housing and benefits for people who really struggle. Advocates explain the paperwork and procedures in family courts to help parents keep their families together. Advocates will accompany in courts and tribunals and speak the wishes of people who cannot do this for themselves.

The Northern Stage performance shows a backdrop of news headlines and politician statements we have heard over the last 10 years which is a heavy wake-up call to how society continues to treat the most disadvantaged.

The film ends on a powerful monologue with a character stating that they are not a 'client' a 'service-user' a ‘number’ etc. Hearing this made me extra proud of a change in strategy Connected Voice Advocacy made last year. Whilst it can often sound clunky and take longer to type we committed to change the way we address and describe people we advocate for, we avoid the use of dehumanising language.