About the Show

Tyrell Williams’ play exploring gentrification in London communities.

Beyond Omz, Bilal, and Joey's local football pitch, old flats are being demolished in favour of new ones, businesses are closing down and some residents struggle to stay. The three life-long friends discover that their football pitch - their home away from home - is under threat from the gentrification suffocating their community.

Daniel Bailey directs this production, which is recommended for ages 14+.

Critic Reviews (13)

For a previous production

“The play works as both a striking portrait of friendship rent asunder but also reinforced, and as a separate enquiry into a community under threat. You’re soon aware of the extended social network – an unseen grandfather, for one – that informs these adolescents’ lives and of the hairpin turns between camaraderie and cruelty that are part of anyone’s growing pains.”
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For a previous production

It’s difficult to believe that this is Tyrell Williams’ debut. It’s intelligent, nuanced and the dialogue is tight...It’s a next-level coming-of-age story.
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For a previous production

“ ‘Red Pitch’ is a story that deserves to be told; it’s vibrant, it’s poignant but most of all it’s 90 minutes of authentic joy. It’s a show to be seen by a wider audience and fast.”
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For a previous production

“It’s so beautifully crafted – empathetically acted, deftly directed by Daniel Bailey and with a lovely football court set by Amelia Jane Hankin – that it manages to feel hugely meaningful while relatively little happens.”
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For a previous production

As well as a coming-of-age story, this is an account of social displacement by gentrification...It’s still rare to see a play about young, black, working-class youths on our stages: rarer still to see one in which they are celebrated like this.
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For a previous production

“The plot is tight, but never schematic...The movement direction by Dickson Mbi is also superb. The snatches of skills are realistic, but the slow-motion bends and swerves between scenes serve the double purpose of suggesting another more graceful world beyond the one where the boys struggle and strive...That little detail is just one of the careful joys of a magnificent production of a play that is set to become a classic.”
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For a previous production

A promising debut about football, friendship and gentrification...While the writing doesn’t always dig deep, the piece gathers momentum thanks to Daniel Bailey’s crisp direction and the strong performances.
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For a previous production

To the background sound of construction work, and the foregrounding of dance music, this excellent piece of new writing is effortlessly and energetically entertaining.
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Cast and creative team