Reviewed by Tammy & Anthony Wildblood
On Friday we were asked to go and see the theatre production of The Beautiful Game at the Nottingham Playhouse, to which we accepted as we wondered how on the earth the game of football would be portrayed onto the stage as we are both avid football fans, this was one show we was going to go with an open mind as to see how it would turn out.
For those of you who don’t know Nottingham, I would leave yourself plenty of time to get to the theatre and to park as the traffic around the city centre can be quite bad as people are leaving and arriving but this will depend on the time and day of the show you are seeing.
There are a number of car parks around the city centre which we found expensive but as we got to the theatre for about 6pm, we managed to park right outside the theatre on the on-street parking at Wellington Circus and parked for a little as £2 as after 8pm the parking there was free so this was ideal for us as we didn’t have to walk far to get to the theatre.
The theatre is set by a lovely church which is lit up at night and sets the tone for a nice evening, there was also an outside table tennis which were keeping children entertained as we arrived, as we got there in plenty of time, we decided to take the opportunity to go to the Nottingham Playhouse bar and restaurant to have a bite to eat and something to drink and we were pleasantly surprised as a 2 course meal was £12 which is really good and the food was beautiful, the staff were amazing, we were welcomed by a gentleman as soon as we walked in even though you could see he was busy and he explained the soup of the day and told us one item which wasn’t available, our waitress was fantastic, very pleasant and as I am an extremely fussy eater, she offered alternatives and what they could do for me.
We entered the theatre and was welcomed straight away with a smile from a lady then went to collect our tickets from the box office and the same lady asked if we knew where was going and explained where the “Fan Zone” was as there was pre-show entertainment which was being run by the cast members who had amazing amounts of energy and involved everybody. This is something most football clubs around the country are now doing to give you a difference experience when attending the football due to more families attending, so for us this was something which we were looking forward to seeing as we wanted to see how they would do it in the surrounding of a theatre. We walked into the fan zone where you could play a game of Subbuteo, which is flick football, this brings back childhood memories but being that there was only one of these you had to wait your turn, then there was spot the ball, also beat the clock which you had to guess the name of football teams that played at the stadium which was fun. You could also paint your own face or get a friend to do it which was also free, and we couldn’t resist putting our favourite football teams on our face which was great fun. There was also a photo area where you could have your photo taken with a blow-up trophy and scarves and hats and flags, another great way to have some more fun and obviously we took advantage of this, there was also tie your lace with goalkeeper gloves on and a matching card game and not forgetting table football. The idea of the fan zone worked and sets you up for the rest of the production.
Once you made your way into the studio, which we did find to be small and the seating was quite uncomfortable and hard to sit on, but this was an amateur production.
The stage was set up with a fire place; it also had a rug in front of it, a single seat with a lamp next to it, two coffee tables and tray which held a glass jar full of biscuits and a football mug. The back drop to the stage had a black curtain with a coat rack in front of it. Now for me as soon as I saw this I was starting to get a little confused as to where the football element was going to come into it.
Then 4 girls started the show in a bizarre fashion, which kind of got me confused as to what was going on as it didn’t make sense to the performance. Then the performance started with the Match of the Day theme and the girls started to dance. Now for someone who likes Match of the Day and knows the theme tune, I thought the dancing didn’t quite go with the tune. We felt sometimes the songs were too loud and you couldn’t hear some parts of the actor’s words and what they were trying to say even though there wasn’t much speaking involved in the production. We felt they didn’t quite get it right with the dancing to the football bit.
The only part which I understood with what goes with the title of the show The Beautiful Game was the actor’s monologues about their own stories about the beautiful game.
For a show that lasts 45 minutes, I found it slightly confusing and for the love of the beautiful game called football, I think that portraying it in dance was just too confusing. Many people did seem to enjoy the production and maybe this just wasn’t something for us and I think this one is totally down to personal preference, we feel that maybe if you enjoy dance then this is more one for you.
Overall, for the girl’s energy, choreography and the Fan Zone, we think that this production is 2/5 stars but other’s may think differently and £8 a ticket isn’t breaking the bank so it may be worth seeing for yourself.
Rating: 2/5
For other shows at the Nottingham Playhouse visit www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk or call the box office on 0115 941 9419.
Nottingham Playhouse, Wellington Circus, Nottingham, NG1 5AF | 0115 941 9419
