The Giant Killers – East Riding Theatre, Beverley

Writers: Eve and Andrew Pearson-Wright

Director: Andrew Pearson-Wright

By a strange coincidence in 2012 Eve and Andrew Pearson-Wright are busily polishing the screenplay ofThe Giant Killers, an embellished version of the great triumphs of Darwen F.C. in the late 1870s, when Keith Dewhurst’s book The Underdogs appears – dealing with precisely the same untold true story! So this is not a version of Dewhurst’s book: in the conversion of screenplay to a stage play (first performed in 2017) it naturally foregoes all Dewhurst’s back history of football at Eton and the rest. Perhaps it loses a little subtlety, but it gains a focus on a small group of people, with a love story at its heart.

In 1878 Darwen F.C., a team made up of mill-workers from a town in the midst of industrial unrest, entered the F.A. Cup. After early success, taking on “posh” teams, they were paired with Old Etonians, the previous year’s beaten finalists. They were eventually eliminated after the Old Etonians effectively cheated their way to victory, refusing to play extra time, refusing to come to Darwen for the replay and, if The Giant Killersis to be believed, indulging in unsavoury tactics on the field.

The production by Long Lane Theatre Company makes clear various important issues. The reason why the result was so shocking lies in the superior height and weight of old school boys who fed well. It also doesn’t shy away from the disturbances that rocked Darwen. Above all, it makes clear why this campaign was so important. James Ashton, a supportive mill owner, found work for Fergus Sutter and James Love from Glasgow to play for the team – and was thus accused of implementing professionalism. In a year or two more professionals from Scotland came to Lancashire and the rule of the amateur died. And the Scots brought a new shape to football: the 11-a-side game had emerged from the era of mass brawls (lovingly evoked at the start of the play) with a 1-1-8 formation, to be transformed by Fergus Sutter and his ilk to 2-3-5.

The action is pared down to Billy Walsh, his widowed sister Lucy, Robert Kirkham who returns from Glasgow and marries her, and son of the mill James Ashton. The list of other parts looks impressive, but they are brief moments, though Nicholas Shaw has fun as a wild Fergus and a strutting, elbows-out Lord Kinnaird. Graham Butler (Billy) is intense as the indomitable union leader, though he is called upon for rather a lot of shouting. Andrew and Eve Pearson-Wright are touching as the lovers, with him adding a nice touch of drollery and her providing the model of the independent woman. Shaw’s main task is to be the urbane, but increasingly committed, money man.

Long Lane Theatre Company are touring to theatres, town halls and whatever and Kevin Jenkins’ set is a miracle of design. He can’t do anything about the lack of space at Beverley (the football matches are cramped for room), but he does provide a mill background and a terrace in front of which office and house open up with remarkable ingenuity.

Above all, this wonderfully energetic performance reminds us that 150 years ago both the ruling classes and the press they controlled could treat the working classes as an inferior breed, drunk and work-shy – Two Nations, indeed!

Touring until 2nd August 2024. Reviewed on 17th July 2024.