Michael Greco is set to play war hero and football manager Billy Holmes alongside Harry Potter’s James Phelps who is changing a wizard wand for a rifle as he moves from the Battle of Hogwarts to the Battle of the Somme in The Greater Game.
Other cast members include award winning actors Paul Marlon (Communion, Dangerous Mind Of A Hooligan, Essex Boys Retribution) and Scott Kyle (Outlander, Kilo Two Bravo, The Angels Share) as well as Victoria Gibson and Helena Doughty who some of the more keenly eyed readers may recognize for their connections to both the football and theatre world. All of these line up under the stewardship of multi award winning director Adam Morley who will present The Greater Game as part of Football Remembers, a pan football initiative set up by the FA, Premier League, English Football League (EFL) and PFA which will support a range of projects commemorating the Armistice and conclusion of the First World War Centenary.
The Greater Game tells the true story of some of the footballers who signed up to fight in the Great War, focusing on lifelong friends Richard McFadden (James Phelps) and William Jonas (Steven Bush) who travelled from Newcastle to London to play football for Clapton Orient, before swapping England for France to ‘fight for King and Country’ – a fight neither one would survive. More than a story of football or war, The Greater Game is a story of love, friendship, sacrifice, triumph and loss.
After a 5 star run at the Southwark Playhouse in 2017, The Greater Game has been re-drafted and is set to come back even stronger for a run at the Waterloo East Theatre from October 30thto November 25th. Some nights have already sold out to the show critiques raved about:
The show was written by Michael Head on the back of his 5 star show ‘Worth A Flutter’ which is currently being considered for a West End Transfer following a highly successful run at The Hope Theatre.
Michael said; “to get the chance to tell this story, to touch so many and bring an audience to tears and fill the theatre with laugher was a real pleasure and this time everything is set to be even stronger than our first run”.
The Greater Game is at Waterloo East Theatre 29th October to 24th November 2018.
