Richard Wilcocks writes:
Anthony
Clavane spoke about his best-seller Promised Land: A Northern Love Story in an
event entitled The Lingo of Sport, which took place in the New Headingley Club
as part of the LitFest in March. He spoke about the diversity of his native
city, about what it means to be a writer celebrating Leeds and about a certain
football club with a remarkable history. “I’m working on a dramatic adaptation
at the moment,” he told us, “along with a co-writer, Nick Stimson.
“It
is going to be full of music, and probably dancing as well. It will be the same
narrative, but things will be seen through the eyes of Nathan and Caitlin, two
young people with plenty of ideals who are on two sides of a religious and
cultural divide: Nathan is from a Jewish background while Caitlin’s ancestors
were Irish Catholics.”
Somebody
in the audience mentioned West Side Story. “No, not exactly that. It’s not a
romantic tragedy. It’s more of an affirmation. They fall in love and get
together and that’s it for them. There will be a lot of flashbacks to what
happened at the turn of the twentieth century when Jews were arriving, escaping
from pogroms in the Russian Empire, and also to the time when Don Revie was
revered as the saviour of Leeds United, when The Mighty Whites reached the
European Cup Final in Paris. The play is based on facts and research.”
Now
that play with music (not ‘musical’) has launched at the Carriageworks, thanks
to the Red Ladder Theatre Company and a very strong community cast. On the
opening night (25 June), most of the audience fell in love with it: they
clapped along, laughed and in some cases cried. I have seen a few ‘community
plays’ and this was the best and most enjoyable by a long chalk in that wide
category.
For
a start, it is superbly-rehearsed, with tight and effective direction by Rod
Dixon, who can turn a crowd of amateur (hard to believe) actors into a kind of
dancing animal, sometimes aggressive and riotous, sometimes sublimely happy and
sometimes chorus-like, commenting on the action. It becomes a crowd of swaying,
chanting scarf-brandishers on the terraces, the inmates of a sweatshop
somewhere near the Jewish ghetto (called The Leylands in Leeds), a bunch of
vicious racists addressed up by a ranting anti-semite and much else. There is
stirring music from the Red Ladder Band, I think not enough of it: there could
have been at least one more Klezmer number and one more song with an Irish
flavour. The footwork is nifty at all times.
Nathan,
who represents Clavane, is played by the talented Paul Fox with wit and charm.
The author must feel flattered, indulged even. Lynsey Jones is an equally
charming Caitlin, and she acts (and plays guitar) with real spirit. Steve
Morrell is a very credible David, stallholder in Kirkgate Market and Nick Ahad
plays an exploiting boss as a cross between a cartoon capitalist in a top hat
and a soft-edged gangster.
Yes,
the story is predictable,
mainly because it has to be, because it is based on local history and we know
that the action is going to end up… here, and yes, the two lovers face only the
small problem of their parents’ prejudices (a really funny scene with the two
mothers discussing their offspring while drinking tea on a sofa) rather than a
secret marriage and murderous relatives, but that’s not the point. The point is
that it is a celebration, which might be a bit earnest and possibly a little sentimental,
as we hang on those two words ‘Leeds’ and ‘United’.
There
are scenes in it which remind us, as well, that we have no reason to feel smug
in this country after watching that Panorama programme on crudely racist
football hooligans in Poland and the Ukraine. We had them here in the
seventies, just as bad. Some of them are still active.
It’s
quite an achievement, to turn a book like that into good night out at the
theatre.
At the Hyde Park Picture House last Tuesday (4 September), This Sporting Life revived the feelings in me which I had when I first saw it on the big screen many years ago - it is stunningly powerful, with superb acting from just about all the cast. It's dour but brilliant. In spite of the odd, hybrid accent, which drifts into his native Irish at times, Richard Harris puts his heart, soul and athletic body into the part of Frank Machin, and Rachel Roberts is so impressive as Margaret Hammond! As with all classic films, you notice things you missed before - I recognised places I know now but didn't at the time of the first showing, I appreciated the innovative camera work and I took pleasure in recognising so many actors who made it after the first appearance of the film - William Hartnell (Doctor Who), Frank Windsor as a dentist, not a policeman, Leonard Rossiter as a sports journalist, not Rigsby, and Arthur Lowe as Charles Slomer, not Captain Mannering. 
