A play written by Rob Ward takes us back to 1995/96 Newcastle, where a city was enjoying its beloved team’s rollercoaster title charge yet suffering with a shifting political identity.
The performance suffers from occasional pacing issues, yet its honest and intimate mood ensures it’s a thoroughly enjoyable watch.
The play, directed by Bex Bowsher, made its Manchester debut at the National Football Museum on Friday night – and the venue’s football-decorated walls provide a perfect backdrop for this love letter to Newcastle’s footballing fanfare.
Newcastle United’s 95/96 title charge saw hope, optimism and brutal disappointment – and all of these themes are prevalent throughout Love It If We Beat Them.
Newcastle’s footballing obsession provides a comforting and memorable backdrop for an intimate personal performance focused on the polarising reactions to New Labour in traditional mining communities.
With the season playing out in the background, the Magpies’ results provided direction for the play’s mood.
Like many Northern communities recovering from the loss of the coal mines, Newcastle represented a city torn between embracing the new and not letting go of days past.
Len Hinchcliffe, played by Dave Nellist, portrays a former union treasurer and someone who is struggling to come to the realities of the new world he finds himself in.
Whilst Newcastle’s title charge offers a rare break from this conflict – the Magpies’ ultimate failure to win the league proves he must come to terms with the reality he finds himself in.
Len finds opposition in Victoria (Eve Tucket), a hopeful Labour candidate who is striving to usher Newcastle into a new era where ‘things can only get better’.
Victoria shares many similarities with the young exciting Manchester United of 95/96, the side which stole the title from Len’s beloved Magpies.
As a young, gay and university-educated woman, she offers a necessary contrast to the traditional views held by Len and others within the mining community.
These two figurehead performances are backed up brilliantly with intimate performances from former miner Michael (Daniel Watson) and Len’s wife Victoria (Jessica Johnson).
Victoria adds some brilliant humour whilst also appearing in some of the most emotional scenes in the play.
Meanwhile, Michael represents an outsider – not only a loyal Sunderland fan but also torn between a loyalty to his mining routes and his intrigue about the new and exciting promises proposed by Blair and the New Labour government.
This brilliant assortment of characters and performances provide an excellent representation of how political change can push apart friendships, families and communities.
The play is an important ode to the North East’s values of grit, self-identity as well as a good handful of humour.
Whilst the football references provide enjoyable context, it is the emotion poured into every scene which makes Love If We Beat Them an enjoyable watch – whether you’re Geordie or not.
Love It If We Beat Them is on tour until 10 November.
Featured Image: Emmerson & Ward in association with Live Theatre
