John Niven announces new comedy play on Oasis and Blur rivalry
Screenwriter John Niven has created a new comedy play called The Battle, which depicts the blazing Britpop rivalry between Oasis and Blur.
The play is set to open at the Birmingham Rep Theatre on February 11th, 2026, before heading out on a major UK tour and eventually landing in London’s West End.
It will tell the story of the infamous summer of 1995, in which the two Britpop heavyweights took each other on in what is often cited as one of the most notable and hard-fought chart battles of all time, when they each released their respective hits ‘Country House’ and ‘Roll With It’ on the same day.
The competition endured by the rival bands, which Blur eventually won, has now been committed to the stage by Niven and a creative team consisting of Matthew Dunster as director and Simon Friend as producer.
According to the show’s synopsis, it will feature “legendary personalities and unforgettable clashes. It was never just about the music, but power, pride, and uncontrollable competitiveness.”
Scottish writer Niven, who is creating theatrical work for he first time with The Battle, 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. I’ve never written for the stage before, and it has been an absolute blast to do so for the first time.”
After opening at the Birmingham Rep Theatre, The Battle will spend the rest of 2026 touring the UK, stopping in Leicester, Manchester, Bromley, Woking, Cheltenham, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Sheffield, Ipswich, London, Glasgow, York, Norwich, Nottingham, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, and Chester.
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