Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Derek Barr, Les Dennis, Paul Duckworth, James Duke, Oliver Farnworth, Michael Ledwich, Nathan McMullen, Conrad Nelson, Andrew Schofield, Daniel Taylor.

If there is an occupation that typifies the city of Liverpool, which the British public think of first when asked what job symbolises the city that gave The Beatles to the world, then surely without doubt the job of the Stevedore or the Dock worker would come out on top.

A job that brought untold risks with it that survived the horrors of the blitz attacks during World War Two, which had Governments attempting to kill it off and now is prized as the docks of Liverpool enjoy being the gateway to the city and the world once more. The dock worker is the job that the city owes much of its life blood to and is perfectly captured in Alan Bleasdale’s Down The Dock Road which has returned to the Liverpool stage 40 years after it was first written.

The hardship, the camaraderie, the scams, the petty theft, the vile abuse of management, of tall tales, of being the first line in defence against victimisation and the spectre of all out war. The dock workers do a job many rely on for their own needs but at times are too quick to criticise when times turn and yet Alan Bleasdale captured with a distinguished air the truth of the docks in this at times amusing but never anything that searingly honest and verging on the graphic play.

With a touching and emotional dedication to the recently passed on Liverpool comic legend Mickey Finn by Alan Bleasdale in the programme, the nod of appreciation in the minds of the cast, the play struck note after note of what life was like in the 1970s as the production placed a mirror on society as a whole. The dream, personified by the superb Paul Duckworth as Mastermind and the reality brought stunningly to life by the relationship between Les Dennis as Granddad, Conrad Nelson as Marley and the excellent Andrew Schofield as McKenna, reflected the anguish and despair and the small chink of possibility that Britain faced as it sought to shake off the ravages of war and still prove to be the country of ingenuity and freedom.

Directed by Hannah Chissick, Down The Dock Road is an absolute must of the Spring season, a reminder of what was worth fighting for and to cherish those who work hard to bring the city what it needs as the latest economic situation and power grab by the Government threatens to bring the country once more to a divide and conquer situation.

Ian D. Hall