Our Friends on stage

In The Independent, Lynne Walker talks to Peter Flannery about putting his celebrated TV drama, Our Friends In The North, back to the stage.

Long before it came to the small screen, Jarrow-born Peter Flannery's epic story of four friends from the North-East was a stage-play. "When I was in my late twenties," says Flannery, "and resident writer with the RSC in London, I began to think of a play which might concern itself with the growing cynicism of my parents' generation about our political life. The research and execution of Our Friends began my own long journey towards the almost pitch-black scepticism with which I now observe our political culture. "

The play is being produced by Northern Stage, who have put a rehearsal diary on their website.