Community play in full flight ahead of summer celebration
Football fever hit the Exeter Northcott Theatre on Sunday 27th April as rehearsals began for the upcoming musical ‘The Day We Played Brazil’.
Over 100 participants gathered at the theatre to begin rehearsing dialogue, songs and dance moves for the show that is set to be the biggest cultural event to hit Exeter.
A week later, guests at the ‘Road to Rio’-themed End of Season Gala Ball were treated to renditions of two songs from the play performed in the marquee by the cast of the production.
‘The Day We Played Brazil’ will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the football match between Exeter City and the Brazil national team – the first-ever game played by Brazil. The play is based on the extraordinary true story of Exeter City’s tour to South America in 1914.
The whole project will energise the city as part of the celebrations of Exeter’s unique place in the history of world football. The musical play will be performed by over 100 local people telling the stories of the players and their wives, sweethearts and families back home.
Todd Pattinson, who will be playing the role of Exeter City’s Fred Whittaker said: “It was good fun. I’m actually surprised by how much we managed to create in such a short time.
“I thought we’d probably work on one song, but we’ve managed to learn a song, pieces of dialogue and we started to work on how we’re going to interpret playing football into the theatre. It has been a really good process and I’m excited to see where it takes us.”
Under the expert direction of Nick Stimson, Polly Agg-Manning and David Lockwood, the newly formed cast will rehearse this exciting show over the next few months before opening at the Exeter Northcott Theatre on Wednesday 16th July.
For more information on The Day We Played Brazil, please visit www.thedayweplayedbrazil.com – and you can watch the ‘post-match interviews’ from the rehearsals below.