Retired English footballer and sports broadcaster Gary Lineker OBE will lead an exciting post-show panel on Monday 20th November, discussing the football themes of Patrick Marber’s The Red Lion. Set in the dressing room of a semi-professional football club in the North East, this powerful, funny and touching locker room drama reaches beyond the beautiful game, exploring contrasting ideas about loyalty, ambition and what it takes to win, from the perspectives of three different generations.
Lineker comments, “I look forward to seeing this new version of The Red Lion at Trafalgar Studios. It’s a premier league play about non-league football and you can join the cast and me for a post-show discussion on the play and the importance of these leagues in the wider game.”
The Red Lion is hoping to attract new young theatre fans by working with some of London’s major football clubs and inviting players from their Academy and Youth Education programmes to come and see the play.
Amy O’Brien, Head of Development at Fulham Football Club Foundation, comments, We’re delighted that our Football & Education participants can take advantage of this opportunity. In addition to football training, the character and social development of our student-athletes is an integral part of our programme, and team building activities such as this add tremendous value.
The production, directed by Max Roberts, is brought to life by Stephen Tompkinson, John Bowler and Dean Bone who will be reprising their roles after a run at Live Theatre.
Through Marber’s own personal experiences with non-league football, The Red Lion goes far beyond the pitch to look at hope, obsessions and the desperation of humanity to be a part of something. It is a piece that resonates in contemporary society – the two older characters are conflicted representatives of a pre and post 1980s, one possessing a sensibility formulated by a before-Thatcher England, the other by its aftermath. In the middle a youngster is dealing with that fall out.
