The Game

Synopsis

Lancashire. 1913. Match Day! Blackton Rovers is in need of money. Owner, Austin Whitworth, sells his star centre forward - local football hero Jack Metherell - to a rival club on the eve of a crucial match that could see Rovers relegated. Will honest Jack do Austin’s bidding when asked to throw the match? Or will he put professional honour above loyalty to his old club? Meanwhile Austin’s daughter Elsie, and Jack, are in love - or so they think. But Jack still lives at home, firmly tied to his mother’s apron strings... From the halcyon days of professional football where players were working class heroes and people were supposed to know their place. A spirited comedy by the author of the classic Hobson’s Choice, that combines broad northern humour with the paspassion, pride, prejudice and principles of two football families.

Our Review:

Ron Simpson - 22 October 2010

Harold Brighouse’s football comedy, The Game, given a polished performance by Northern Broadsides, invites all sorts of fascinating cross-references. The plot concerns a struggling Lancashire football team whose owner sells star centre-forward Jack Metherell and then tries to persuade him to throw the match against his former team. On the day of the celebrated Wayne Rooney U-turn, the discussions of player loyalty and the dire consequences of the big-money teams hoovering up the best players seemed strangely contemporary for a 100-year-old play.

Then there is the inevitable Hobson’s Choice comparison. Like Brighouse’s masterpiece, The Game is built around a trio of characters: the paterfamilias with more dignity than power, the feisty New Woman daughter and the working class man she wishes to marry. Once again the power is with the daughter and devotees of Hobson’s Choice will catch a pre-echo of some lines, but there a...

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