Night Out At: 97+

A powerful and educational theatre performance written in collaboration with the Hillsborough Support Alliance. Tom’s grandfather was a Hillsborough survivor, so the research and emotional connection were palpable. The Fringe Version was performed last year at The Liverpool Theatre Festival, and this is the newly penned Full-Length Version with new characters and Bill Elms as Co-Producer.

The venue seats well over a thousand and was duly noted by me that the security was top-notch. Although it was a large audience, everyone was seated close to each other, allowing for that community feel. There were over 800 attendees, and its sheer size and majesty lent its way somewhat to the size of the stadium that fateful day.

It took a while to get used to the headsets of the cast and the sound effects of the chanting football fans. Some of the crying felt a bit too loud, and unfortunately, on one occasion, a cast member could be heard off-stage. The music was perfect, all Beatles and football chants.

All the characters' lives connected. Some were married, friends, or family, and there was a twist to the tale at the end that I won’t spoil. It is a neat way to tie things up, but I wasn’t entirely convinced of the likelihood of it happening.

There was a clear link of physical and mental scars that never quite heal, even after 23 years in 2012 when Operation Resolve came out. Steve has both. Touching tableaus of how various characters deal with their pain stand out. One, in particular, stands out: John (Colin) as a workaholic, Steve (Leslie Longley) as an alcoholic, and the grandmother Sally (Lynne Fitzgerald) as the world’s mother. She is often found talking to her son’s grave and goes back to it, giving him the football results and telling him she leaves a chair out for her son in case "God decides to bring him home." I got a bit tearful here.

I feel the attempted suicide scene of Steve didn’t need to be quite as graphic, and although there was a trigger warning at the start of the show, I feel it wasn’t needed. The tears of Liz, the wife, unfortunately sounded a bit too loud and fake, which I’m sure wasn’t the intention. Perhaps contact info for support services could be in the program, and information in the venue could be an idea as survivors, friends, and family could be watching and need that information.

Sally, the grandmother, I felt was too young for the character she portrayed, and her affected Scouse accent was a little jarring at times. She got laughs and tears from the audience, though. Her timing was excellent.

Nancy and Charlotte (played by Alice Mckillop) as a nurse and granddaughter and daughter of a Hillsborough victim were different in vocal cadence and body language. It must have been challenging but was pulled off really well.

Stuart, the grandfather (played by Graham Padden), had some touching and dramatic moments. Some of the facial expressions looked a bit too pronounced; however, I appreciate as a large venue it’s a difficult balancing act.

I felt at times, I felt a little preached at. This is Liverpool. We know what happened. A few of the scripts could have worked as a shorter piece and benefited from dramaturgy. It was over 2 hours.

The set was simple with three parts. However, I did notice at the start someone was taking off props at the start of a scene, and near the end, I noticed the middle panel wasn’t turned round. We were meant to be in the grandparents' house, not Steve’s. And their house didn’t seem to have enough seats, which felt awkward for such an emotional scene of disclosure and healing. There were lots of scenes, and some were going on at the same time. Some characters froze for a good amount of time while another scene was played out concurrently. It felt a little awkward. It was sad that it was just there for the one night, too, after all the effort that must have gone into it.

Finally, the play is important and has an important message to share. Liverpool is a resilient city and has unfairly been historically the scapegoat of the UK. I remember well as a student saying I was from Merseyside and getting the usual sneers and jokes. That Scousers are moaners and whiners who won’t stop going on about Hillsborough, or they are thieves, scallies, vagabonds. This trope still persists today. Not every story was told, clearly, but if you tell one story well, you tell many. I can clearly see many offshoots to this genre telling many other stories from many different angles. Many come to try to understand, even if they weren’t directly there that day. I and many others witnessed the tragedy unfold on TV. As a child, I could not fully comprehend what happened, but this play allows the space to explore that.

There were strong emotional responses by a couple sitting next to me when John (Colin Kilbride) recounted a lot of the police evidence had gone missing. “Yeah, of course it did,” he painfully retorted. There were tears, laughs, and singing along to LFC favorites. But mostly, it felt emotional; many in the audience saw the performance as a theatrical memorial service, many clad in football regalia. Tom’s mum and auntie sat next to me with their donation buckets poised and ready to raise money for the charity. Both told me the family connection and how Merseyside and Yorkshire rallied together to take care of people. “People shouldn’t die at a football match,” Tom’s mum said, whereupon we all got emotional. Me recounting watching it all unfold on TV as a small child with my nanna and even now feeling jittery in large crowds. Coming here to make sense of it all. It's all our story.

After a standing ovation, John (Colin Kilbride) asked people to donate if they can and/or to go to Tom Cain Theatre to find out more and to sponsor a race to raise money for the charity and help fund a new kind of therapy to help with survivors.

Please go to Tom Cain Theatre on Facebook and Instagram to find out more about the charity and donate to the cause if you are able.