Why I Stuck A Flare Up My Arse For England

Growing up, everyone at my school loved playing soccer. It wasn't until I moved to England though that I realised I was committing a mortal sin by not calling it football or taking any interest in it.

In Ireland, there were defintely fans of the sport, but in England it is almost like a religion.

When I lived in England, my Saturdays were filled with my neighbour screaming at his television to games that weren't even for the team he supported, and my workdays were filled with an almost daily reminder that football jerseys were not to be worn in the office due to incidents in the past.

Although it was not a world I knew, when you see a play with the title: "Why I Stuck A Flare Up My Arse For England", you can't help but be a little curious as to what the heck it could be about. 

Running at Underbelly Cowbarn Theare for its third and final run, the songs you'd expect to hear at a football stadium are blaring as you enter the theatre.

Alex Hill storms the stage as Billy Kinley. There's an electric energy just radiating from Hill. You immediately want to be his best pal and hang on to every word that comes out of his mouth.

We are brought on a tale of friendship, love, and football!

We see how Billy goes down a path of destruction that starts with going to matches with his best mate and spirals into cocaine, booze, and fist fights.

What I really appreciated about this story is how it represents men's mental health. It doesn't have the lead character come from a rough and broken home, finding kinship with people who took advantage of his brokenness, a tale of poverty porn that is so often associated with football hooliganism. Billy comes from a family where his parents were theatrical, artistic types. His dad's a hairdresser, his best mate works in a bank, and he has a steady girlfriend. It shows that even when we have things society deems as a steady foundation, we can still feel lost, lonely, and low.

Being part of a football team fanbase makes Billy feel part of something important. School never made him feel that way, and he works for his dad, which doesn't give him fulfilment, and he most defintely won't become a football player. Having a best friend often isn't enough to make you happy if you don't have a purpose in life.

There were a couple of technical difficulties in the performance, but Hill handled it completely in character, so much so that it just became a part of the show.

It's a tragedy that this is the last time this show is coming to the fringe. The only thing I can hope is that someone at The National Theatre sees this show or gets a hand on a copy of the script quite recently published by Metheun and puts it on there.

This is a show that needs to be seen on a national stage, and wouldn't it be lovely to see tickets sold at a discount price to football fans in the clubs of the United Kingdom.

There's not much time left in its run, so please grab some tickets if you can! As you can probably guess already, I'm awarding this show a Fantastic Fringe Award!

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Are there any shows you've seen at fringe that you feel need to be given a bigger stage? I hope you've found at least one and I hope you have a fantastic fringe! 😁

Love,

Tony x