The Guardian 14 December 2023

There is plenty of talent on the field, but the early game is marred by obvious set pieces. In this wish-fulfilment fantasy by Robbie Gordon and Jack Nurse, a squad of women are in training for the Homeless World Cup. Their moves are agile and their banter sharp, but the familiar pattern of team-building exercises and first-person testimonials has the drifting quality of a warm-up.

But as the 90 minutes power on, Bryony Shanahan’s production shows its premier-league class. What seems secondary to the action in the early stages – the story of the unpaid bills, the misfiring job interview and the one about the teenage carer – turns out to be the groundwork for a thrilling combination of sporting excitement and personal validation. [READ MORE]

By Mark Fisher

MARK FISHER is a freelance theatre critic and feature writer based in Edinburgh and has written about theatre in Scotland since the late-1980s. He is a theatre critic for The Guardian, a former editor of The List magazine and a frequent contributor to the Scotsman and other publications. He is the co-editor of the play anthology Made in Scotland (1995), and the author of The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide (2012) and How to Write About Theatre (2015) – all Bloomsbury Methuen Drama. He is also the editor of The XTC Bumper Book of Fun for Boys and Girls and What Do You Call That Noise? An XTC Discovery Book (both Mark Fisher Ltd).