The Battle | Birmingham Rep

Hot on the heels of last year’s long-awaited Oasis reunion, the spotlight turns to Manchester’s most iconic sons, this time on a theatre stage. Matthew Dunster’s new play The Battle has its world premiere at Birmingham Rep, before transferring to the Opera House Manchester.

Presented as a fictionalised take on one of music history’s most talked about chart showdowns, The Battle dives headfirst into the moment Britpop boiled over. In 1995, northern upstarts Oasis went head-to-head with southern heavyweights Blur, releasing singles on the same day and turning a simple chart race into a national obsession. The play kicks off at the infamous 1995 Brit Awards, where Blur sweeps the board with four wins, including Best Group, leaving Oasis to watch from the sidelines. From this charged moment, the story charts the build-up to the legendary battle for number one, capturing the rivalry and media frenzy along the way.

John Niven’s debut stage play rings with authenticity, no surprise, given his background in the industry. You can feel that lived-in experience with the characters feeling genuine. What is especially impressive is the pacing. The play moves at a brisk, energetic clip, yet it never feels hurried. Each scene is given the space it needs to breathe, letting the tension build naturally. Rather than becoming a full-blown jukebox musical, the band’s music, along with a few well-chosen tracks from Pulp and TLC, are woven into the production, punctuating scene changes without ever taking over. 

It would have been easy to let the songs take over, but this thoughtful choice kept the spotlight firmly on the story and its characters even if a handful of scene changes lingered a little longer than expected. Fly Davis’ set and costume design shifts from the intimacy of recording studios to the haze of after-parties, capturing both the calm and the chaos of the era. One particularly hilarious moment came when Blur was about to step onto the set for their ‘country house’ music video, packed with playful nods to the infamous moments fans know and love. Tal Rosner’s animated video design adds an extra layer of comedy, showing radio presenters Jo Whiley and Chris Evans like you’ve never seen them before.

It’s perhaps inevitable, given the era and the personalities involved, that the language in this production is strong and it certainly doesn’t hold back. The steady stream of F-bombs, repetitive use of the c-word and casual homophobic slurs reflects the laddish bravado of the time and helps paint these figures as they were. In that sense, it’s historically honest. What felt more jarring, though, was the audience reaction. Hearing a packed theatre erupt with laughter at homophobic slurs sat uneasily, especially through a contemporary lens. 

When Noel Gallagher’s infamous remark, wishing AIDS on members of Blur, was delivered, it landed as factually accurate but tonally complicated. The line was met with hysteria, and while it may have been intended to underline the bitterness and absurdity of Britpop rivalries, the response felt uncomfortably gleeful. Perhaps with a slight shift in framing or emphasis, the moment could have prompted reflection rather than roaring laughter allowing the production to acknowledge the ugliness of the comment without seeming to revel in it.

With casting choices like Matthew Horne (Gavin and Stacey) and Louisa Lytton (Eastenders), it’s clear part of the strategy is to draw in non-fans or those less familiar with the story, after all, the tale of Britpop’s legendary chart battle could be a tough sell for a younger generation. But while these names might catch attention, the production’s true strength lies in its ensemble cast. These are roles that would be notoriously hard to cast, the actors have to capture the real-life characters without turning them into a parody. Claire Bleasdale, the casting director, couldn’t have got it more on the money. 

Paddy Stafford and George Usher embody Noel and Liam Gallagher as if they’ve stepped straight off the stage at Knebworth. Usher strikes the perfect balance between realism and caricature, capturing Liam’s notorious absurdity while keeping the humour grounded even if the accent does falter at times. Stafford, meanwhile, channels Noel with striking authenticity, and together their chemistry vividly conveys the tension and complicated bond at the heart of the Gallagher brothers’ story.

Oscar Lloyd and Will Taylor particularly shine for Team Blur. Lloyd’s portrayal of Damon Albarn captures the tension perfectly: outwardly composed and effortlessly cool, he’s constantly fretting over whether the middle-class band can outshine the working-class powerhouse that is Oasis, anxiously dissecting every article and review. Taylor, meanwhile, steals much of the comedy as the unhinged and unpredictable Graham Coxon, delivering a chaotic energy that keeps the laughs coming and balances Lloyd’s restrained intensity beautifully.

Blur famously won the battle of the charts back in 1995, claiming the Britpop bragging rights on that particular day. But history has a funny way of reshaping victories. With Oasis’ much-documented reunion drawing hundreds of thousands of fans across the globe decades later, the question lingers: who really won in the end? Without giving anything away, because the ending really does deserve to be experienced firsthand, it’s safe to say the conclusion isn’t quite the one you might expect. It resists the obvious, leaning instead into something a little more theatrical that will divide audiences and perhaps detracts from the story. 

The Battle is a brilliantly nostalgic throwback to the chart war that once had the whole nation picking sides. So were you Team Blur or Team Oasis? Packed with sharp humour and frantic 90s energy, it transports you right back into that Britpop frenzy and keeps you laughing along the way. You don’t have to be a fan of either band or aware of the battle that was fought as the story itself is captivating enough to keep you hooked. Honestly, roll with it and go see for yourself.

The Battle plays at Birmingham Rep until 07th March 2026 - more information and tickets can be found here.

★★★★☆ (4*)

Gifted tickets in return for an honest review | Photography by Helen Murray