fri 29/03/2024

Total Football, Barbican | reviews, news & interviews

Total Football, Barbican

Total Football, Barbican

More Beckett than Beckham, a comic play about national identity

'Total Football' is not a play about football (or not totally): Theatre company Ridiculusmus play up

Which came first? The low national self-esteem or the shit national football team? Is it possible, in the interests of blending in with one’s countrymen, to stimulate in oneself a love of the beautiful game? And can Britishness be boiled down to an application test? Total Football, from the two-man company Ridiculusmus, is a fleet-footed comedy which investigates the shifting parameters of what it means to belong in a country where symbols of national pride are hard to come by. Unless you count Wayne Rooney.

Which came first? The low national self-esteem or the shit national football team? Is it possible, in the interests of blending in with one’s countrymen, to stimulate in oneself a love of the beautiful game? And can Britishness be boiled down to an application test? Total Football, from the two-man company Ridiculusmus, is a fleet-footed comedy which investigates the shifting parameters of what it means to belong in a country where symbols of national pride are hard to come by. Unless you count Wayne Rooney.

The performances are balletically lithe, lush with both physical detail and vocal nuance, and the laughs come along frequently

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