Play Details
Context
Artistic Director
Max Stafford Clark
Dates Performed
Friday 11th June 1982
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs
Play Details
Synopsis
A basement in Moss Side, Manchester, in the early 1980s
As riots and racial unrest rage outside, a band of young skinheads are offered a gig at a forthcoming concert. When the far-right nature of the concert is revealed, they decide to decline, returning instead to a life of looting, mugging, and unemployment.
This play delivers a sharp, passionate critique of right-wing and fascist tendencies within the working-class skinhead movement. It remains accessible and relevant, though familiarity with the Moss Side Riots enhances understanding. Focusing on white characters in a story about race, it makes a bold, mostly well-executed choice. With its straightforward yet principled approach, the play is both a compelling allegory and a poignant reflection of a specific historical moment.
Cast & Creative
Cast
Paul McGann
Cast
Robin Hayter
Cast
Dorian Healy
Cast
Peter Lovstrom
Cast
Paul Moriarty
Cast
Beverley Martin
Cast
Antonia Bird
What our readers say
What’s it like reading this play now?
The play is direct and shocking, exposing the attitudes of a specific group of people at this specific time. Racist slurs and violent white supremacism occur throughout, in particular from the man who offers the band a gig. Compared to what we might see on stage today, it is disturbing in its directness
What does it tell us about the past and present?
It really made me think about how race and class are pitted against each other and the post-Brexit narrative that we hear from the current Tory government and national newspapers. On a very basic level, it can feel like “Swarms of migrates, taking jobs” Vs “Disenfranchised white working-class boys”. This feels like a divide-and-rule tactic, which echoes very similar issues that caused the 1981 Moss Side riots. This siloed way of thinking about race and class (or race VS class) runs through the whole of Oi for England – I feel very much resonates with a common narrative today.
If you like this play, you might also like…?
This is England, Death of England, The Specials
What is the social and political context of this play?
This was the early years of the Thatcher era. The world economy was in recession. The Race Relations Act of 1976 was less than a decade old. In 1981 the so-called ‘Moss Side Riot’ saw a police station attacked by an angry crowd, fuelled by racial tensions and the dispossession of mass unemployment.
