Red Pitch by Tyrell Williams

Set in present-day ‘urban’ South London, Red Pitch opens with an apt quote from rapper Little Simz: ‘How they talking on what's threatening the economy? Knocking down communities to re-up on properties.’ Following the story of three black, working-class boys enjoying a kickabout at their local football pitch in the summer, Red Pitch has a sombre undercurrent, as the football pitch (along with the rest of the community) is set to be demolished and built on imminently.

While comical, the pacey script is ultimately touching and saddening, commenting on the attitude towards the gentrification of areas of London, and the increasing loss of community for economic benefit. By humanising the problem and focusing on the young boys, Williams looks at the helplessness of the communities who fall into situations like this every day and are shunned out of their homes due to financial pressures.

This is a great text to use when looking at physical theatre, as much of it focuses on the act of playing football. At times, the football between the characters is rehearsed, and is more of a dance, shown by the stage directions at one point stating: ‘they are passing and moving; it's rapid, it's focused, it's choreographed between them.’

The cast is small – three boys named Bilal, Omz and Joey – meaning that the text is good for showing clear character development and giving students airtime to show their abilities. The language used features a heavy amount of South London slang, making the speech authentic and appear genuine, featuring inside jokes and comical digs from one friend to another. Regular references are made to the world outside the football pitch, immersing the text in a realistic community.

It is worth noting that Bilal, Joey and Omz are cheeky characters who are clearly young, black and working-class, and it is essential that their voices are given to those who identify as such. It would be difficult to swap the genders of these characters too. Due to the limited number of cast members, this script would be good for working through with A Level students, especially when used as a starting point for devising inventive physical theatre sequences.