Football is to many the beautiful game, but for just over 90 minutes the Wolsey's current production tackles the less glamourous side through the eyes of a non-league team.
Many will resonate with the themes of The Red Lion. If you have ever spent any time within a football team community, Patrick Marber's script captures the passion many feel and the rollercoaster of emotions in between.
What I think the script allows the actors to explore is how sometimes passion and loyalty can be misplaced as the characters are pushed to the very edge.
The show doesn't roar its message but I think it subtly leaves you with some discussion points as you leave the changing room.
Crispin Letts plays John Yates, the 'ledg' that is now the club kitman.
If you're like me and go to your seat about 15 to 20 minutes before the show begins, you will get to appreciate some of the quiet character work happening on stage before the lights dim and the audience has finished their conversations.
Yates is the character I think audiences will connect with most. That is, for the most part, due to Letts performance and the role he serves among this three-man team.
He is the (sometimes misguided) protector, the legend, the beating heart, but his flaw is he cannot escape the past of the glory days and seeks to relive those moments through the club's new talented player.
Olantuni Ayofe plays Jordan, that gifted young player, who is quickly dubbed 'our boy' by the manager and kitman.
He symbolises the euphoria fans feel when their club is on a high but is naive because he just wants to play football unaware there is more to that world - even in non league.
He does not see the needs and expectations placed on him by Jimmy and Yates as his naivety plays a part in the fallout.
Now the final piece of this formation is Alastair Natkiel as Jimmy Kidd. The actor walks the line perfectly between an arrogant and win-driven manager to a character who throws up a front and bravado to mask his own inner demons.
Now this show happens in one go, no half time interval. But I can honestly say while there is a lot of heavy drama I never thought I had been sitting in my seat for longer than I needed to, that's how invested I was in what was going on before me.
When it comes to drama productions the Wolsey will always be a great venue because it offers an intimate atmosphere not many theatres can.
I was sitting only a few rows back and it felt like sitting in the changing room watching the tension build between the three characters as the action unfurls over three key moments.
It is all staged on one set and I did wonder going in how is a three man show about a sport that sees 11 men go onto a pitch going to work?
What The Red Lion does is take the feelings and emotions football creates and puts that at the centre.
All three of these characters live and breathe the sport and they are willing to do whatever it takes - but that puts loyalty, trust and the desire to feel part of something to the test.
I do hope more people take a leap of faith and go and watch the show.
You may be more of a musical theatre and panto fan like myself but I think The Red Lion is a compelling drama that captures the challenges of life through something a lot of people understand which is football.
The final beats of the play focuses on Yates and it is the perfect way to end the show.
The Red Lions continues at the New Wolsey until September 23 before heading to the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch, from September 26 to 30.
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