A cold winter morning on Princes Dock in Liverpool, 1972
When Down the Dock Road, Alan Bleasdale’s play about the dockers of his home town Liverpool, premiered in 1976, it was a smash hit. Forty years on, it returns to the city’s 1930s Royal Court theatre for an anniversary run, offering the same funny and poignant glimpse of a way of life – and city – that’s now long gone. Liverpudlian Les Dennis stars as Grandad, a veteran whose plans for a peaceful last day on the docks are thwarted by a cast of colourful co-workers, from tough-as-nails Mad McKenna to Dobbo the Croxteth Casanova, with no shortage of scams experienced along the way. Afterwards, explore the waterfront as it is today at Albert Dock – a World Heritage site whose grand warehouses form the largest collection of Grade I-listed buildings in the country, and also house top museums and art galleries.
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April 2016
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