Written by Robbie Gordon & Jack Nurse

Story Created with the Women of Dundee Change Centre

Directed by Bryony Shanahan

Tickets: £20.00 (Con. available)

Though there isn’t a bauble in sight for the closing production of the Traverse Theatre’s season, there’s little wonder why the venue deviates from the Christmas route with Same Team. Or has it? This is, it is still absolutely a show for the festive period, striking the important (and expectantly familiar) notes of warmth, compassion, and decidedly frank testimonials relating to some of the most vulnerable at this time of year.

A relatively clean overarching story of a team trying to win the Homeless World Cup for Scotland, Same Team builds itself with the accounts from the team members as they prepare themselves, open up to one another, and ready for the intensity of competition and heat in Milan. A dialogue opens on a range of issues linking our most fundamental connections and pelts this terrifically honestly human and naturally comedic piece to the back of the net. And that’s the only football pun you’re getting.

Constructed through the live experiences of the Dundee Women’s Street Soccer team, Robbie Gordon and Jack Nurse’s Same Team may be fictional in composition but is entirely lived in and authentic. The Dundee-based initiative encourages a positive change through football for those affected by a range of issues, not solely that of homelessness, meaning that Same Team is sobering, for some a painful watch. And different ones than some audiences will have experienced. But in carrying this connection, and infusing a genuine sense of spark and joy, the show benefits from a cast who demonstrate a commitment, not only to their audience and team, but to the experiences of the women who shaped this narrative.

Captain Jo has a tough task ahead, least of all holding themselves together, let alone an entire team consisting of a diverse range of experiences and adversities: Sammy (Kim Allan) desperately struggling to maintain full bellies and a roof for her children, while some have differing care responsibilities; Hiftu Quasem’s empathetic Noor with the sole caring duties for her grandfather with Alzheimer’s. While Lorraine, played by Louise Ludgate is shunted from the middle-class lifestyle after her long-time partner trades her in for a ‘new model’; ‘The B’, just out of prison, ties the team together, played with a tremendous command of presence from Hannah Jarrett-Scott.

Each element of the cast brings something to the overall dynamic, individually as well as a solid ensemble unit. Jarrett-Scott and Ludgate evoke a natural sense of comedy without dipping into the cheap or easy shots. Same Team is performed and written with humour as a natural vein, flowing from genuine responses rather than set-up punchlines. While Tyler’s emotional beats of the show often hit the hardest and most ringing, as Quasem and Allan provide excellent support throughout.

So exquisitely demonstrated in Gordon and Nurses’s passion project, is the ability to refrain from pander and handholding. Same Team is honest – and confrontational in its communication with the audience with a clear sense of purpose, embedding itself around genuine experience with infused urgency and tenderness. The football weaves its way into the foundations: yes, for initial moments of comradery and boosting enthusiasm of adrenaline are terrific aids, but the second act benefits from the more central method of challenging people at their most openly vulnerable, and is handled with tremendous sincerity and skill from the entire team.

It’s relatively easy to draw a Scottish crowd into anything footy-related, and within Same Team, it becomes a mandatory exercise that ties everyone in the Traverse together. This isn’t a spectator sport – as the crowd is cast into a supporting role as fans, cheering on the team. It’s an outlet, a masterstroke which encourages the audience to surrender any concerns or feelings and tie a natural passion for the game into the characters and experiences, allowing for the raw emotions to take over, and for a direct connection from Shanahan’s direction.

So much so, one would forgive any audience members who get a touch ‘too’ into the frenzy of it all – especially as Alisa Kalyanova’s sports hall is so authentic, the scent of Lynx Africa or chlorine from a (presumably) neighbouring pool is only a degree or two away. With some strikingly clever lighting from Lizzie Powell and a robust sound design from Susan Bear, the already excellent cast has terrific support from the design front to push Same Team into even more grand heights of realism and empower the energy on and off stage.

The pair’s writing takes a more decisive turn in the ‘second half’ of the production, with the audience possessing a familiarity with the cast and set-up. The individual nature of the character is remarkably well threaded, each given an appropriate time and weight to their experiences, but the more regimental elements of training, or matches, and even the odd cliché begin to front-load the production and cause one of the rare times a more traditional two-act structure with interval may have offered beneficial breathing room.

Where the tinsel, mistletoe, and shrieks of pantomime may find themselves barred from the Traverse this year, Same Team, unquestionably captures the meritorious virtues of the season with its consideration and mirth. A fantastic ensemble piece which ties audiences together through a shared passion and a shared experience of the world around us, right in our peripherals, with a significantly powerful impact.

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