In the UK in 2014, The Civil Partnership Act is ten years old, same sex marriage has passed into law and it is a criminal offence to stir up hatred against people on grounds of their sexual orientation.
After years of struggle the final stigmas have been removed. It is okay to be gay and being out isn’t an issue and yet, homosexuality remains a taboo subject in English football. Not one of Britain’s 5,000 professional players is openly gay. The national sport is leagues behind everyone else.
Hot on the heels of the retired Aston Villa player Thomas Hitzlsperger revealing he is gay, theatre producers Working Progress Theatre Company and Hartshorn Hook Productions bring Away From Home, a visceral new play that tackles the issue of homophobia in English Football to Brighton during the Fringe.
Kyle is comfortable with his life as a male escort until the day he is hired by a premiership footballer, and finds himself falling in love. But can Kyle maintain a relationship with a closeted footballer in a country where not one pro player is out?
Can he go on pretending that the homophobia endemic in the game is nothing to do with him?
Does he know what a relationship means, when, for him, sex has only ever been a transaction?
Can he ever tell his friends – and his family – the truth?
Away From Home premiered last summer when it was granted the honour of opening The 24:7 Theatre Festival, Manchester’s annual new writing extravaganza. It is co-written by Rob Ward and Martin Jameson, whom, with three decades experience in theatre, TV and radio (Casualty, Emmerdale, Holby City and numerous dramas for BBC Radio 4), also directs.
Ward, taking the part of Kyle, is a founder of Working Progress Theatre Company.Rob Ward won the Audience Award for Best Actor at 24:7 and the work took the North West Equity Vicky Allen Memorial Award for best production. It was also recently been nominated for three Manchester Theatre Awards and won best new play, best fringe and best fringe performance.
What: Away from Home
Where: Marlborough Theatre, Prince’s Street, Brighton
When: May 22-26
Time: 7.30pm
Cost: £10/£8 (concs.)
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