From the pens of the creative team behind the superb 549: Scots of the Spanish Civil War, and Co-Founders of Wonder Fools, Robbie Jack and Jack Nurse, Same Team – A Street Soccer Story is the Traverse Theatre’s seasonal offering for 2023. Created alongside the women of Dundee Change Centre, with whom they spent a year developing the play, the play follows the fates of 5 women selected for the Scottish team for the Homeless World Cup.
This fictional tale takes a few dramatic liberties: Homeless World Cups limit on-field team size to 4, not 5, and rule out players appearing in more than one tournament. Absolute historical accuracy is often the enemy of good theatre, but the price is always a dulling of the mirror betwixt drama and reality. Nevertheless, this is a fine production, not least due to stunning performances throughout its cast.
The inevitable ups, downs, and personal drama of any team pursuit lend themselves to theatre. That holds true for Same Team – A Street Soccer Story, Jack and Nurse creating 5 distinct characters with their own troubles, traumas, and dreams. Coming together through the Street Soccer programme at the Change Centre, and thrown into the boiling pot of training, preparation, and tournament, an abundance of life is inevitable.
Rising star Chloe-Ann Tylor gives a tremendous performance as football acolyte Jo, investing the part with genuine substance, presence, and pathos. While the cast shares the role of their gruff, domestically troubled, coach, Tylor’s is also the most compelling, and deadpan funny. The squad’s other big personality is The B, played by OG Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) alumnus, Hannah Jarrett-Scott. ex-convict, team enforcer, and master of the malaproprism. Jarrett-Scott’s comic timing is sublime, helping her create one of society’s accidental comedians, but not a figure of fun.
The pair are more totemic than dominant, however, encouraging Louise Ludgate, Kim Allan, and Hiftu Quasem to shine in orbit around them. Ludgate’s abandoned middle-class wife Lorraine finds her opposite in The B, the two awkwardly, and very amusingly negotiating an odd-couple friendship. Allan’s very believable single mum, Sammy, juggles approaching eviction, and a thorny relationship with her own mum, whilst Quasem’s Noor, the teenage ‘baby’ of the team, struggles to find herself between caring for her ailing Nana, and peer pressure.
Whilst well-judged vignettes sketch in each woman’s life outside of football, the play is more interested in who they are when they are together. The message is clear: people are shaped by their circumstances, but they are not defined by them.
However, nobility doesn’t make a good play. Thankfully, Same Team has many of the virtues which do. The dialogue is crisp, each voice well-defined, and not in the least-caricatured. From training, through their World Cup adventures in Italy, their relationships grow without awkward forcing, or Hallmark card schmaltz. Football is a catalyst, the rules of the Street Soccer organisation enshrining mutual support, trustworthiness, and respect, helping to bridge divides.
The show’s production values mirror its dramatic qualities. Ailsa Kalyanova’s wonderfully stylised set offers a perfectly conceived canvas upon which Director Bryony Shanahan orchestrates an energetic, well-paced show. Think abstracted sports-centre hall rendered in green, black and a vibrantly yellow pair of doors. The setting lends itself to an active production, and Shanahan obliges, keeping the characters in motion, and avoiding static declamation. These are not mouthpieces for their particular social challenges, but living, breathing humans. Indeed the writers wisely avoid fully explaining any of their situations or histories, revealing only what they disclose to one another in the main.
Same Team – A Street Soccer Story is, ultimately, an uplifting comedy-drama. The shadow of multiple deprivation looms large in each woman’s life, but they are people, not victims. Football isn’t only a vehicle for a meaningful drama, but the basis for the drama itself. It is a source of pride, self-belief, solidarity, and strife (that’s team sports for you), in different measures for each player. The play’s central theme is encapsulated in the players’ pre-match ritual, culminating in a hand-on-hand shout of ‘Same Team!’
Critically, the sporting action in training, or competition, is also well-choreographed through a mix of narration and movement. Though there’s no ball on stage, Same Team – A Street Soccer Story successfully manifests all sorts of athletic endeavours, adventures, and mishaps. The play expands out into the audience during the final competition, the audience making a convenient stadium crowd, called upon to cheer, chant, and sing. It’s a successful, immersive touch, made a little epic by Lizzie Powell’s revealed stadium lighting. The fourth wall is wobbly throughout Same Team, but it’s during the World Cup the line between watched and watched breaks down completely. There’s even a touch of delightful meta-comedy when the characters step into the shoes of famous commentators.
Yet, for this son of Dundee, place plays very little role in the play, barring a few throwaway references. It may make the drama more universal, but feels like a missed opportunity. There’s a uniquely warm, and timeless Scottishness to Dundonian culture which begs for time on stage. A solitary ‘ken’ just won’t cut it.
Further, for some, the fairytale feel to the team’s football campaign coupled with the empowering message might be a little much. However, this isn’t a play examining the nitty gritty of lives haunted by homelessness, poverty, drug-use, and a callous state. Same Team – A Street Soccer Story is trying to demonstrate the power of the team, expanded family, and sport to lift people up. By the end, our characters’ circumstances outside of football haven’t been transformed, and there are no guarantees their cooperative friendships will persist. They, however, aren’t quite the same people they were: they have hope.
Energized, and energizing, Same Team – A Street Soccer Story is a welcome ode to the women footballers of Street Scotland, and the invaluable work of the Change Centre in Dundee. Fine drama and fine performances also make it a fun night at the theatre.
Same Team – A Street Soccer Story is a Traverse Theatre Company production.
Show Details
Dates: Friday 8th – Saturday 23rd December
Showtimes:
- 2:00pm/2:30pm/7:30pm
Age Recommendation: 14+
Running Time: 1 hour 30 mins (no interval)
Accessibility
- Wheelchair Accessible Venue
- Wheelchair Accessible Toilet
- Audio Enhancement System
- Captioned & Signed Performances available.
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