‘Love it if we beat them’

(at the Live Theatre, Broad Chare, Newcastle upon Tyne)

There are some momentous events, like 9/11,  that millions remember where they were when they happened and then there are subsets of events where quite small groups of people recall their location and feelings. This play was chock-full of them for me, bringing back memories such as watching the two late goals by Blackburn Rovers on an extended family holiday.

On first glance this was a play about football, more specifically Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle United’s agonising defeat in the premiership race of the 1995-96 season after having a 12 point lead. However, such was the density of the themes in the play that it was much more an acute analysis of identity in North-east England covering politics, family and community.

A local Labour councillor, Len Hincliffe, was played by Dave Nellist who I last saw take the lead in ‘I, Daniel Blake’ at the Northern Stage. That was a tremendous performance bringing even more depth and poignancy than the film version. This was equally impressive. Hinchcliffe is an ex-miner who has retired early on sickness grounds and now believes he has a great, even a predestined, chance of succeeding the recently deceased local Labour MP. But this being a year from the 1997 election, Blair and Brown’s NEC see it differently and are supporting a smart young woman from Manchester. This would be a rich enough scenario on its own, but the play’s strength is further enhanced by Len’s relationships with Michael, his younger fellow miner from the 1984-85 strike and his wife of 25 years, Jean. Jessica Johnson’s Jean is a fantastic character, at turns, optimistic and playful then angry and determined as she portrays how events have shaped her and Len’s life.

Each character engages the audience with their complexity and it’s difficult not to feel some sympathy with each in turn. There is humour throughout. One of the funniest scenes, given extra bite with Keir Starmer’s travails, is when Michael, a Sunderland fan meets Len in a box at St James’s Park for the Manchester United game.

All these conflicts are played out against the unfolding drama of Newcastle’s premiership bid until it was finally extinguished at Nottingham Forest. I know as I was there in the Trent end, 28 years ago, as Ian Woan’s goal went in….

Michael Hush

Michael Hush