“I’m not hugely into football, except my son plays, so I do watch a lot of it,” says Lorna Craig, one of the cast of Perth Theatre’s new play Oh When the Saints, a unique and unexpected collaboration with the city’s football club St Johnstone.
“But I am so into it now we’ve been doing the show, that my husband thinks he’s got a football wife. ‘Aw no, you’re off to the football?’”
It’s a play that unites two of Perth’s most important institutions.
When theatre meets sport
Oh When the Saints has been in the planning between writer Martin McCormick, the theatre’s artistic director Lu Kemp and actor and Saints fan Colin McCredie for some time now, first through community discussion events and visits to the theatre by sportspeople, including players from the club and Perth curler Eve Muirhead.
“I play Wendy Bell,” says actor Greer Montgomery.
“The story centres around a family, and I play the daughter. Tom McGovern is Del, my dad, and Colin McCredie is my Uncle Bobby.
Football and the family
“Wendy is 16 years old, she’s a quick-witted young football hopeful who’s trying to gain a bit more independence as she launches her football career.
“Along the way, she questions her commitment to Saint Johnstone and finds out more about the relationship with her dad.”
Craig’s character Helen, meanwhile, is an outsider to football and to the family.
“I don’t want to say too much about Helen, because her story emerges throughout the play,” says Craig.
“She’s had some difficult times, but she meets Colin’s character, Bobby, somewhere quite random, and they end up spending the day together.
It’s a bit of a rollercoaster day for both of them, and a big old journey for Helen in this play.”
A community cast as fans
As well as the quartet of actors, a community cast of 40 (actually two casts of 20) will be onstage at all times.
“They act as football fans, but also as the character of Bobby’s inner thoughts, they’re with him for this whole journey that he’s on,” says Montgomery.
“They’re onstage the entire time, so they’ve got a lot to do, and when they came into rehearsals it was like a character that was missing.
‘It’s a show about people from Perth’
“I wouldn’t have met half of the community cast if I hadn’t done the show, people from all different walks of life, all from Perth. That’s another thing that’s great about the show, that it’s a show about people from Perth and it’s set in Perth. That’s something I’m very excited about.”
“It’s about community,” says Craig, “and although we’re specifically talking about Saints, which are such an important part of Perth’s community.
“For people who are not interested in that, it’s about family and connection with each other. It’s about celebrating together, and those big moments when you’re all focused on the same thing.
“That feeling of togetherness is like when you go to a concert, isn’t it?
“We’re all pulling for the same thing, and we’re all excited feeling those emotions together.
“You’ll feel that in the show, because there’s loads of music and chants and drums. You will feel it in your body here – I think it’s going to be really powerful.”
- Oh When the Saints is at Perth Theatre until Saturday June 18. www.horsecross.co.uk
