“this cast seizes the opportunity to play just like their characters…. They make the things these people say worth hearing. “
Veronica Hannon
4 Stars
Jumpers for Goalposts is a warm-hearted play about having a go, even if you think something is beyond you. It is also about being gay in East Yorkshire.
Written by Tom Wells, it premiered a decade ago in Watford before touring the UK. The title refers to having a kickabout in the street or a park with your mates. You wear jeans or the like because no one places jumpers on the ground to use as goalposts in a head-to-toe replica kit. It is just for fun and an excellent way to learn a game’s rules (and made-up rules) if you aren’t likely to get picked for the school team.
Well’s characters, born and bred in Hull, aren’t naturally sporty and aren’t too fussed about it. They have come together for some fresh air and a few laughs on a Sunday afternoon. Sure, they’ve formed a team, comically called Barely Athletic and joined a queer five-a-side competition lasting six weeks, but no one is taking it too seriously. That is until one of them gives free rein to their competitive instinct and decides to nurture it in the others.
Liv (Emma Louise) is the player/coach with her eyes on the prize, in this case, one of the trophies she hopes to display on a wall in her pub. She was kicked out of the Lesbian Rovers for being intolerably bossy, but the Athletic crew seem chuffed that she believes in them. Beardy Geoff (Jared Stephenson) would typically spend this time busking, but as the victim of a recent hate crime, this weekly get-together is a blessed distraction. Danny (Isaac Broadbent), a student with some ball skills, is fixated on the chronically shy Luke (Sam Martin), who can’t kick a ball for quids. Theirs is the central love story, and you can’t help hoping Danny’s intense longing will be reciprocated. And finally, the team has a “token straight” Joe (Nick Curnow) who is grief-stricken following his wife’s death but embraces the mundanity of getting on with everyday life rather than focusing on the loss.
The characters and interactions feel authentic because director Alice Livingstone has got the casting dead right. And you would expect a good director like Livingstone to succeed in telling a coherent story from beginning to end – as she does here – but her highly attentive ear and eye also recognise the telling details in these ordinary lives. And it is what elevates this piece from your standard underdog story.
Tom Bannerman has outdone himself with the set – an old, rundown change room. You can only imagine the poor ground conditions, but this cast seizes the opportunity to play just like their characters. Louise, Stephenson, Broadbent, Martin, and Curnow are all excellent. They make the things these people say worth hearing. And those things are often funny and honest and not often heard. I was thrilled to walk back out into the street, feeling revitalised. There’s little, if anything, to fault in this production – it is beautifully done. See it while you can!
Veronica Hannon, Theatre Now
