Staged at Birmingham Rep, The Battle throws you straight into the 1995 chart clash between Blur’s Country House and Oasis’s Roll With It, a moment when the nation briefly forgot anything pressing or important to argue over guitar bands.
The 1995 Brit Awards had already confirmed Britpop’s arrival. Blur swept British Album, Single, Video of the Year, and Group of the Year, while Oasis took home British Breakthrough Act. It is here that the play introduces the bands, celebrating, trading barbed insults, and brimming with the kind of confidence only youth and fame can bring.
As both groups prepare to release albums, a calculated play emerges. Blur discover that Oasis deliberately plan to release their single a week earlier, threatening to steal their thunder. Blur’s bold response is to go head-to-head on 14 August 1995, and so begins the Battle of Britpop, a hilariously tense, ego-fuelled fight for chart supremacy and bragging rights.
This is not a concert or a documentary, and live music on stage is minimal, but the play features an incredible soundtrack of 1990s music and Britpop classics that instantly transport you back to the era. John Niven’s witty script, brought to life by Matthew Dunster, captures the backstage tensions between artists, management, and the industry. Imagined conversations and a few surreal touches add laughs without losing authenticity. Heads-up: the humour is laddish, and the language coarse, in the best way..
North versus south, working class versus bourgeois, the production navigates these contrasts brilliantly. George Usher’s Liam Gallagher is loud, unpredictable, and gleefully brash. Paddy Stafford’s Noel is measured but capable of spectacular missteps. Oscar Lloyd’s Damon Albarn exudes calm intelligence, while Brandon Bendell’s Alex James adds humour and poise. Matthew Horne, of Gavin & Stacey fame, shines as music executive Andy Ross, injecting a dash of star power.
Designer Fly Davis nails the era. Costumes capture Britpop’s unmistakable style, while a flexible studio-style set and a huge video screen, part Beavis-and-Butt-Head-inspired animation, part archival footage, keep the energy high and the action moving.
Even without spoiling the outcome, the play makes one thing clear: the real winner was music itself. Britpop energised a generation, stirred passions, and defined a cultural moment.
The Battle is fun, sharp, and full of heart. It is a riotous, nostalgic ride that makes you laugh, cheer, and remember a time when music felt urgent, tribal, and absolutely alive.
