Back in 1995, the Britpop giants Blur and Oasis released their respective singles “Country House” and “Roll With It” in direct competition on the same day in August 1995 in a bid to hit #1. Blur famously won ‘The Battle Of Britpop’, after selling 274,000 copies, with Oasis selling 216,000 singles.
Now that singles battle is becoming the subject of a new theatre comedy penned by British author John Niven, that will have an appropriate title – ‘The Battle.’
Niven is an author, screenwriter and former music industry legend famed for his best-selling book O’Brother and the acclaimed satire turned movie starring Nicholas Hoult Kill Your Friends – and is directed by Matthew Dunster, known for his work on the play 2:22 A Ghost Story.
Speaking about the play, Niven said: “1995: a time long before music splintered into a billion different TikTok feeds. When music was so central to the culture that two pop groups could dominate the entire summer, the evening news and the front page of every newspaper in the country. We’re going to take you back there.”
According to a press release, audiences can expect “filthy language and razor-sharp dialogue” in this theatre comedy, recalling when fans were encouraged to pick sides as the Oasis and Blur chart battle reached the front page of magazines and newspapers, turning it into a football derby-like spectacle.
