Cultural Dessert

'The Giant Killers' by Andrew and Eve Pearson-Wright

2 November 2018

On Sunday we were at the Stantonbury Theatre in Milton Keynes to see the Long Lane Theatre Company production of ‘The Giant Killers’ by Andrew and Eve Pearson-Wright. This is the true story of Darwen Football Club, the first working-class team to play in the FA Cup. In 1879 they took on the “poshest team of all” – The Old Etonians. The play is ‘The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists’ with added football, looking at working conditions in the cotton mills of Lancashire and the clashes between unions and management as well as the early development of Association Football. It’s a fascinating and inspiring story, told with gusto by a cast of four as a kind of dramatised lecture. Some of the language (particularly the swearing) felt a bit too contemporary for 1879 but this didn’t detract from the rousing David vs Goliath narrative which had us all shouting “Darwen, Darwen” by the end.

Labels: Drama, Theatre

posted by Robin Simpson @ 4:34 pm