He had, playwright Patrick Marber told the audience at the launch of Live Theatre’s January to May 2017 season, gone through a period when he did no writing. Not wanting to bring up their three young sons (two years between each) in London, the family moved to a farm in East Sussex and spent their time refurbishing the farmhouse, growing vegetables, looking after their livestock and getting involved in their local community.
Always a football fan (he was—and is—an Arsenal supporter), he started going to watch a local side, Lewes FC, which was at that time in the Conference South league. It was going through difficult times, both financially and on the field, being eventually relegated from the Conference and just managing to avoid being wound up on a number of occasions.
However Steve Ibbitson, who took over as caretaker manager towards the end of the relegation season, really impressed Marber for his devotion and drive and so, in 2011, he and five others bought the club.
Enthused by the passion engendered by football at this level, Marber set about writing The Red Lion which premièred in the National’s Dorfman Theatre in 2015. It is an all-male three-hander—he calls it a “blokey” play—which, although it is set in a non-league, semi-professional football club, is essentially a conflict between two views of England, a belief in community versus the Thatcherite idea of England as a business.
Now Marber is adapting the play to the North East especially for Live Theatre.
“I am thrilled to be making my Live Theatre debut,” he said. “It's been a great and exciting opportunity to revise the play with Max Roberts at the helm. I'm greatly looking forward to seeing this new version of the play in Newcastle.”
The production, which runs from 6 April to 6 May at the Quayside venue, is directed by Live’s Artistic Director Max Roberts and stars Stephen Tompkinson, who last appeared at the theatre in Shaun Prendergast’s Faith and Cold Reading in 2011. He plays the businessman—the serpent, perhaps, in this footballing Eden.
Tompkinson is, he says, delighted to be back to Live. “I adored playing here,” he admitted.