It’s a funny old game... and Rams tale hits the spot
STORY IS WOVEN AROUND THE 1946 CUP FINAL AT WEMBLEY
IT’S a funny old game – or so the late Jimmy Greaves would say.
Funny or just bizarre? In times when a club will pay more than £26m for a 36-year-old; when another will open the door to a controversial new owner; and, of course, when a proud old club like Derby County faces an uncertain future after falling into administration, there’s not much to laugh about.
Where do the fans come into this millionaire’s game? Are they needed at all? But surely they are the beating heart of the game. Without them, without their stories, without their traditions, it’s nothing. And whatever happens, the Rams will be fine ultimately – because the intravenous flow of life provided by their loyal supporters will never let them die.
Jamie Thrasivoulou knows this and you’ll believe it too after seeing his play, Extra Time, now showing at Derby Theatre.
The Derby poet had already been planning an event to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the 1946 FA Cup final victory when he discovered Derby Theatre were arranging a similar celebration. Thrasivoulou got together with the theatre’s artistic director Sarah Brigham plus creatives Paul Warwick and Deb McAndrew to create Extra Time.
Fans from across the city attended a variety of small virtual gatherings to tell the writers about their longtime connections to the club, their memories, ambitions and hopes as well as their disappointments.
“With Extra Time, I didn’t want to create a piece of theatre that was predictable,” says Thrasivoulou. “I wanted to bring something a little different to the stage.”
He’s achieved his goal. There is no one better than this lifelong Rams fan to have painted an authentic and glorious picture of the joys, humour and pathos of being a football supporter. To paraphrase a line from the play: “Derby runs through his veins like the Derwent runs through the city.”
Through an exhilarating mix of acted scenes, songs and poems, Thrasivoulou reveals the secret of what has made generations of people turn up to the match in their thousands week in, week out - normally expecting the worse and honoured to have been part of the best. “It’s hope that kills you with this club,” as one of his characters says.
And what is that secret? It’s love. It’s the love of a grandad for his granddaughter orphaned by the war; the story of a couple who were married on the pitch at Pride Park but still sit in their separate stands; the woman who “L-L-L-L-LOVED” John Gregory and the adoration for Brian Clough, who appears, God-like, from on high to be praised with some of his most iconic sayings, such as: “They say Rome wasn’t built in a day – but I wasn’t on that particular job.”
The story of the 1946 FA Cup final weaves through the production, interspersed with vignettes of life in the terraces as well as film clips of Rams fans and Derby folk talking of their pride in the club and the city. We start in 1946 with a pint at the Ram’s Head when Derby have just won the FA Cup semi-final and everyone wants a ticket for the final. One of the regulars has been lucky at the Grand National and is taking his 10-year-old grand-daughter Lizzy to Wembley.
The clever staging takes us to Pride Park, the Baseball Ground and Wembley as we join Lizzy and her grandad at that famous final 75 years ago.
The talented ensemble cast, jumping from role to role, also perform traditional songs, chants and specially written pieces and there’s even a 1946 original record of a song written at the time for the Rams.
And of course, there’s Thrasivoulou’s rallying poetry. If you’re a regular at Pride Park, you’ll be familiar with his poem, We Are Derby.
“We’re engineers with dirty fingernails; Graft and sweat pump through our veins; We’re Rolls-Royce engines, Belper nails; Toyota motors, Bombardier trains. We are Derby.” This tangible pride is what’s at the heart of Extra Time. It’s an authentic and life-affirming journey through the words of ordinary folk whose passions and pains create an extraordinary sense of community.
There’s also a wicked sense of humour anyone who has stood in the terraces will recognise. Like the man who always wears boxer shorts the same colour as the opposition, so he can metaphorically... well, you can imagine.
Travelling from post-war to postCovid Britain - right up to Monday’s Derby Telegraph report on the latest in the administration saga – Extra Time concentrates on the positives of football, without dwelling on the negatives. There’s the odd dig at Forest and also references to racism and the intolerable reaction by bigots following the Euros this summer. But, there’s no nastiness. It’s a heartwarming and accessible production that should appeal to all – football fans and theatre-goers alike, even if you’ve never had the urge to get addicted to the beautiful game.
And, although Rams fans delighted in the opening night on Tuesday, with a standing ovation for Thrasivoulou and his fellow cast, you don’t have to be a Derby supporter to be thoroughly inspired by the play.
It’s certainly got me thinking I should use the ‘Extra Time’ given post-Covid to get down the match again... to the Trent End – so this must be praise indeed.
■ Extra Time is on at Derby Theatre until Saturday night. For tickets go to derbytheatre.co.uk
Relive Derby County’s 1946 FA Cup victory on today’s Bygones – page 27