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Dateline: 30th June, 2010
Northern Broadsides to Revive 96 Year Old Football Play Northern Broadsides is to revive Harold Brighouse’s northern comedy about love, honour, class and football, The Game. The production previews at the Viaduct Theatre, Halifax on the 16th September before going on national tour until late November.
In Lancashire in 1913 it's Match Day! Blackton Rovers is in need of money. Owner, Austin Whitworth, sells his star centre forward – local football hero Jack Metherell – to a rival club on the eve of a crucial match that could see Rovers relegated to the 2nd Division. Will honest Jack do Austin’s bidding when asked to throw the match? Or will he put his professional honour above loyalty to his old club?
Austin’s daughter Elsie, and Jack, are in love – or so they think. But Jack still lives at home, firmly tied to his mother’s apron strings. Will Elsie’s modern ways and feisty temperament win over his domineering mam? Or is this tryst between the classes doomed from the start? Director Barrie Rutter, a Hull City football fan, said about the play, “April 2010 - My Team has left the Premier League - Relegated! What looms is a battle to avoid administration and a dismal start to a new Season in a lower League.
"April 1913 - Blackton Rovers are in danger of Relegation. Financial ruin for the Club and its Owner looms!
"What's new? The boots are lighter, fiscal mercenaries are in every team, soaring financial chicanery abounds and underhand deals are common, but the effect on families and supporters and the accompanying human dramas are as fresh today as they were in 1913: the difference is that footballers were working-class heroes who lived with their parents and travelled to the match on the corporation bus unlike many of today’s professional players. Director Barrie Rutter, a Hull City football fan said about the play, “April 2010 - My Team has left the Premier League - Relegated! What looms is a battle to avoid administration and a dismal start to a new Season in a lower League.
April 1913 - Blackton Rovers are in danger of Relegation. Financial ruin for the Club and its Owner looms!
What's new? The boots are lighter, fiscal mercenaries are in every team, soaring financial chicanery abounds and underhand deals are common, but the effect on families and supporters and the accompanying human dramas are as fresh today as they were in 1913: the difference is that footballers were working-class heroes who lived with their parents and travelled to the match on the corporation bus unlike many of today’s professional players. "The Game is in true Brighouse style, warmly invoking an age where the burgeoning women’s voice is firmly articulated just as in Hobson's Choice, and where portraits of a previous England have a comic, heart-rending humanity. The play has been on my top shelf for a few years, awaiting its timely entrance. Autumn 2010 sees the kick-off." The Game was first performed at The Playhouse, Liverpool, in1914, then again in the following year at the Gaiety Theatre in Manchester. No other performances were ever recorded. The Tour
The cast will be John Branwell, Liz Carney, Jo Gerard, Catherine Kinsella, Roy North, Wendi Peters, Phil Rowson, Barrie Rutter, Matt Sutton and Jos Vantyler.
Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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