As for how the story ends – although it’s based on real events, lots of people seeing the show don’t know who won the chart battle.
Niven recently appeared on a podcast whose host asked her listeners if they knew the outcome. “So few of them knew who’d won, especially the younger generation,” he says.
“I think they just know that it’s a bit like the Bloods and the Crips in LA – there’s this historic gangland beef between the two sides, but nobody really knows how it got started or who won it.”
The show is, in fact, billed as being only “mostly” based on real events, and the writer and cast allude to a “twist”.
Spoiler: In reality, Blur beat Oasis to number one that week in 1995.
But Oasis went on to dominate the charts and airwaves later that year with (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?, and that album has been back in the top 40 for more than a year since reunion fever took hold.
They may have lost the battle, but Oasis arguably won the war.
But then again… Blur were and still are brilliant. Just in a different way from their Britpop counterparts.
“I always loved both groups,” Niven says when asked which side he was on.
“I didn’t see why anybody felt compelled to pick a team. But a lot of people did, thankfully for the play.”
The Battle is at Birmingham Rep until 7 March and at Manchester Opera House from 17-21 March.
Additional interviews by Colin Paterson.