The Everyman is on the lookout for all kinds of football fans, to take part in an exciting project for 2020 that puts supporters centre stage.
ROAR! is a new project by Molly Taylor, working in collaboration with the Everyman that tells the story of football fans and the devotion and commitment in following a team – from amateur level to the top tier of English football.
The work is a piece of “documentary theatre” looking to tell the real stories and experiences of passionate football fans, told by the fans themselves, rather than through actors. Through workshops, stories of the joy, pain, mayhem and wonder of being a fan will be gathered, before a main stage sharing takes place in the Everyman from 11th-13th June.
Workshops for the production start in February 2020, with a kick-off meet and greet on Thursday 16th January and Molly is keen to hear from football fans from all teams in the Liverpool City Region. Supporters of youth and amateur football teams; non-league teams such as Prescot Cables, City of Liverpool FC and Marine; through to Everton, Liverpool and Tranmere Rovers fans, are all invited to share their voice.
Molly Taylor said, I was first taken to a football game when I was about eight years old and I’m told I couldn’t take my eyes off the crowd. I’m still in thrall to what football fans do; in turning up, week after week, lending their voices, sitting through endless hours of suffering, with the occasional sprinkle of glory mixed in. It takes an almost religious act of devotion to commit to that ground, that team, that process.
I want to put those spectators centre-stage at the Everyman. We will start with a blank page, and begin to fill it with illuminating, moving, challenging, humorous stories, and play with how we bring them to life. It will be collaborative and unpredictable, but my main hope is that we make something loud, beautiful, and relevant to this city and its people.
Someone once told me that a football game should give you everything a life has, but in 90 minutes. I want this show to mimic that idea – the highs and the lows of everyday fans. The game would simply not exist with the fans, and this show is the same.
ROAR! is created in association with the Everyman & Playhouse’s New Works Department with the aim of creating a community-led theatre production especially for the Everyman stage.
Francesca Peschier, new works associate at the Everyman & Playhouse, said, “ROAR! is not quite like anything the Everyman and Playhouse have done before – a brand new piece of work, created by and starring local football fans through nearly six months of workshops. It is a delight to be working with Molly again (Scrappers, 2013) in her home city on this ambitious and exciting show.
We want to highlight the incredible good that people brought together by the club they love can achieve, from City of Liverpool FC’s Sunday games for Asylum Seekers and Refugees, Football Fans For Foodbanks, to Liverpool Homeless Football league’s catering truck The Back Kitchen. I’m already astounded by the amount of engagement and social change, made possible when people are united by their love for the beautiful game.
The very nature of this project means that we have no idea what the final show will look like until we get begin the workshops, which is both exhilarating and terrifying. We could end up with five people on stage, or we could have 50!
I truly hope by turning the focus from the pitch to the terraces, we will make a show for Liverpool, for all fans. If we could bring even a little bit of the passion, noise, togetherness, solidarity and steadfast resilience of football fans into the theatre, I’ll say we’ve done well. I can’t wait to hear the Everyman Roar!”
Molly Taylor will be speaking to footballing communities around the City Region for ROAR!from January 2020. If you would like to attend the meet and greet on 16th January, take part in workshops or find out more about the project, please contact Francesca Peschier by emailing newworks@everymanplahouse.com.