I first reviewed Des Dillon’s male version of this play back in 2005 starring Celtic fan Simon Weir as Rangers supporter Billy.
At the time it was largely ignored by the Scottish press. Happily Irish papers were keen to know more and I was commissioned to speak with Dillon. He was an essential writing presence at the time, and now almost 20 years on it’s clear the work stands up.
Jade McDonald, as Timmy, and Dionne Frati, as Billie have explosive chemistry. The comic timing is sharp with a slapstick physical energy. I brought my 12-year-old daughter, who wasn’t even born when I first saw the play, and she was mesmerised.
The audience was sparse for a Tuesday night but those who did attend were captivated one moment and laughing out loud the next. Rachel Ogilvy as jailer Harriet delivered one of the play’s most poignant scenes, bringing out the maternal instincts of two women banged up in a prison cell who support rival teams.
Religious differences
They trade lines about what makes them culturally different but also what brings them together. They talk of how society views them both as pariahs for the teams they support and the religious affiliations that come with that. Dillon’s writing explores how any sense of real meaning had been muddied through problematic attachments to bad values and the futility and restriction of having to have an “other”.
Football supporters can be eccentric personalities, there’s no greater theatre than people watching on the terrace any given weekend in Scotland and at any ground. By being locked up in a prison cell a Celtic and Rangers fan are forced to listen and explore the other’s identity. They both receive a sense that their own mental and spiritual freedom has been stunted, affecting their life and personality leading them to where they are now.
That’s not to suggest all these roots are bad, both characters talk of family and a sense of belonging while celebrating their passion for the beautiful game, albeit sometimes through an ugly prism. The Timmy character asks a lot of questions, explores and wants to gain perspective while Billie is longing for connection that hides behind a rambunctious humour often used as a tool for distraction from deeper issues.
This remains the most performed play in Scotland and like Dillon’s excellent Six Black Candles, this work deserves to be performed at the Lyceum for its 20th anniversary. It remains a vital and compelling piece of theatre and slice of Scottish life full of drive and ambition performed and written by genuine talent.
In a city overwhelmed, this is a nugget of gold.
