Eng-Er-Land

Daniel Nelson

Football, babes and fit boys, racism and identity – spicy ingredients mixed with a light touch in Eng-Er-Land, a one-woman, one hour, coming of age tale.

It’s a touching, deftly-told story by Lizzie, a lively, naive 13-year-old British-English-Indian-Scottish girl going to a Coventry match.

Playwright-actor Hannah Kumari says she wrote it in June 2020 “In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests and seeing supposed football fans acting in a very aggressive and anti-social way. It made me sad and angry that we are still in this position, and I felt compelled to reflect on my own experiences at football matches as a mixed raced teenager growing up in the ‘90s, and now as a woman.”

It says nothing dramatically new, but touches on many issues – particularly on being “mixed race” in a predominantly white society, on that one step forward one step back transition from childhood to sexual being, on the need to belong, and the meaning of football fandom.

Occasionally, Kumari drops in a thought that hangs disturbingly in the air, such as “Why does nobody ever say anything?”, after witnessing another disturbing sexist gesture. But it’s amusing and authentic rather than preachy: Kumari tells by showing, armed with just one prop, a holdall, and is a pitch perfect 13 watching Coventry City v Manchester City in 1997 – which allows in the best joke of the evening, the home fans song

“In our Coventry homes,

We speak with an accent exceedingly rare,

You want a cathedral, we’ve got one to spare,

In our Coventry homes”

When you think about what Lizzie has been through in barely an hour, you realise the suffocating weight of sexism, racism, and class with which she has to deal.

Lizzie herself admits that “I’m not totally sure how I am, but I’m trying.”

That’s all any of us can do, though given the abuse that’s regularly spilled out on the terraces, some of us aren’t trying enough.

• The production’s national tour is supported by The Football Supporter’s Association (FSA) and the production notes say “this follows in the wake of shocking increases in the levels of race hate and homophobic abuse, around football matches and across social media…”

  Anwar Uddin, a former professional footballer and campaign manager for FSA’s Fans For Diversity campaign, says: “I hope that, through empathy and shared experience, audiences around the country can really connect with Hannah’s play in a positive way and are encouraged to reflect on their own behaviour and more likely to stand up for others.”

+ + + Next production: King’s Head Theatre, 116, Upper Street, N1 1QN, £10 - £28.50, until 10 August. Info: King’s Head