Cast

Synopsis

Jumpers for Goal Posts was first performed in 2013 and was described by The Stage as ‘a stunning piece of writing – fresh, funny, painful, engaging’. This play is a big hearted romcom set in a world of gay and lesbian 5 a side football. It depicts a life affirming testament to friendship and love that overflows with kindness, some sadness and a rich vein of humour and truth. These incompetent players belong to a team called Barely Athletic and the action takes place in the changing room after the matches as they nurse the wounds to bodies and pride. The play proves genuinely uplifting as well as funny as it depicts the way all 5 characters try to make sense of their lives in the face of loss and fear.

Directors Notes

Jumpers for Goalposts was produced by renowned new-writing theatre company Paines Plough and was first performed at Watford Palace Theatre in 2013 on the first stop of a regional tour. I was lucky enough to see it when it arrived at the West Yorkshire Playhouse and Luke, one of the key characters, was played by an ex-student of mine –Philip Duguid-McQuillan.

The national critics heaped praise upon the production, calling it: “an extraordinarily touching and uplifting evening of theatre”–The Stage, “Blissfully funny and deeply affecting”–Telegraph. While the Daily Express summed it up neatly with its simple “It cracked open my heart”.

The reason for the play’s success lies mainly with the author Tom Wells’ trademark way with words and characters. He has an amazing ability to forge gold out of the simplest line, lines that ring out with truth, wit and genuine emotion, and he possesses a natural talent for creating characters that are fully rounded, layered and instantly recognizable without being clichéd. His writing is immensely truthful and clever, picking up the nuances and rhythms of everyday speech and lives, without ever drawing attention to how clever it is. His characters are not highly educated or sophisticated (in the worst, arch sense of the word) but they come full to the brim with humanity, charm and a big beating heart. They leap off the page and into our lives in a way that very few writers manage. These are people -more than that, friends -that you want to spend time with and, once the play is over, you don’t want that time to end.

The characters in Jumpers are an actor’s delight. Give a good actor a good play and they will make it soar. And Jumpers for Goalposts, in my humble opinion, is beyond good. It is a wonderful, life-affirming testament to friendship and love that overflows with kindness, some sadness and a rich vein of humour and truth.

Jumpers takes the familiar rom-com idea of a group of friends and a blossoming relationship that falters, and subtly, wonderfully turns it on its head. This is not a ‘gay play’. This is a play where most of the characters just happen to be gay and, in a typically lovely touch, includes a ‘token straight’. Some might argue that this is unrealistic but, in the world of the Hull LGBT five-a side that Tom Wells drops us into, everything here rings true. We know these people. We recognize them and we understand their hopes and dreams. We share in their success and failure. We laugh with them and feel for their wounded hearts.

The members of Barely Athletic, Viv, Joe, Beardy, Danny and Luke, may be works of fiction but they feel every bit as alive and full of life as you and I. You may only spend 90 minutes in their company, but they will stay with you long after the lights have gone down.