This new play championing female empowerment, friendship and football takes the lives of real women and puts them centre stage. Masterfully intertwining wit and emotional pain, the story revolves around five women struggling to make ends meet and find a purpose, until they are unified by the beautiful game. In joining a local women’s football team, they overcome their internal battles to attend the Homeless World Cup in Milan.
Created with the women of Dundee Change Centre, writers, Robbie Gordon and Jack Nurse worked with the Street45 women’s team to create a play that showcases the raw reality of those struggling with poverty, homelessness, substance abuse, and criminal justice involvement, as well as those dealing with mental health in the care system.
The five women powerful women are ‘The B’ who is just out of prison, Sammy who is struggling to support her young children, Lorraine whose husband just left her, Noor who is in constant care of her grandfather and Jo, the captain, who is often so focussed on football she forgets to think about herself.
The characters engage with the audience throughout, inviting viewers to come down to the stage before the play (in both senses), to do warmup high knees, leg stretches and bum flicks, lulling the audience into active engagement with the action that is crucial for the unfolding narrative. All the women are immediately engaging and beautifully comedic, despite the important themes that are interspersed as each woman’s story is laid out individually for the viewer. The humour is quintessentially Scottish and, as the audience laughs grew, the actors noticeably settled into their roles, with a last-minute cast change going unnoticed – a credit to the professionalism of the team.
‘Same Team’ is the motto the women chant throughout this whirlwind story of the highest highs and lowest lows of homeless football as they battle to put rule number one, ‘Players come first’ into action. The powerful nature of the story is accentuated by the very simple set; five chairs, a locker stand, and half a football pitch playing host to the actors for just over 90 minutes. While gritty at times, with many an f-word and c-word thrown around, the easy camaraderie of the actors meant they bounced off each other with infectious energy that spread into the audience. Luckily for the audience, you’ll need some energy with lots of whooping and cheering required for all the Scottish goals, and polish off your singing voice of a surprising but welcome rendition of ‘Flower of Scotland’ which had everyone thoroughly up and chucking away.
Delightfully Scottish, Same Team – A Street Soccer Story is a powerful insight into the lives of those struggling, and the power of sport to unite a motley crew of women into firm friends.
Same Team – A Street Soccer Story is on at Traverse Theatre from Friday 8th Dec – Saturday 23rd Dec. Tickets available at https://www.traverse.co.uk/whats-on/event/same-team-a-street-soccer-story
Same Team production image by Tommy Ga-Ken Wan (Chloe-Ann Tylor, Hannah Jarrett-Scott, Kim Allan, Hiftu Quasem, Louise Ludgate) provided via Traverse Theatre Press Release.