AD | Tickets gifted in exchange of an honest review
Home Ground perfectly depicts the connection football creates for a community.
Brilliantly devised by the Bristol Old Vic Young Company, Home Ground follows the story of a local football team that find out their historic football pitch is getting demolished, and decide to take matters into their own hands to save it. The story follows themes of friendship, community and loss of space while embedding plenty of comedic elements. The Weston Studio, in which the show was performed, was used very well, the studios thrust layout made the entire audience feel surrounded and involved, even though at times some of the actor's backs were facing the front of the stage.
The Young Company of the Bristol Old Vic was full of energy. Each member looked like they were having fun and enjoyed every second of the show, with their confidence truly shining upon this stage. The show was devised by every member of the company, with the production showing a lot of detail within each character, with their voices and traits being very clear to the audience. At the start of the show, to add to the comedic elements, the commentator announced each member of the team with their nicknames. But unfortunately the only slight downside is with the number of characters, we didn't get to meet all of them to understand them fully, due to the shows 60-minute run time.
When entering the auditorium, a huge AstroTurf draped from the roof of the theatre and ran down onto the floor of the stage. Director Krista Matthews uses the AstroTurf effectively by slowly ripping apart to present the jump in time and the increasing amount of eviction notices. This was a very creative aspect of the show and added humour for when these patches of grass were stuffed into the briefcases of the construction workers. Matthews makes the audience feel immersed as by the end of the show banners and flags draped from the balcony seats of the Weston Studio which made you feel if they were sitting in the stands of a football stadium.
Natalia Chan's lighting, was bright with white lights that imitated flood lights. During tense and dramatic parts of the show, shone lights onto the backs of the actors creating silhouettes of the characters which added moods and feelings created by the show. Chan's lighting was used greatly during the cabaret musical number, using fun splashes of purples and blues to add to the upbeat but also creating a mysterious atmosphere of the CEO's office.
I was also very impressed by the entire Bristol Old Vic Young Company and hope they all continue to pursue the arts and I hope to see them in the future within larger roles. This performance of Home Ground included elements of inclusivity such as a British Sign Language interpreter and this level of accessibility was great to see included within the shows short 4-day run to ensure that more people could see this powerful story. While also adding to the shows inclusivity the interpreter was in costume, which made them feel part of the show.
Home Ground was very strong and could be easily placed to the level of many bigger name plays, shedding light on the importance of community and the space in which they meet.
Overall, Home Ground was a very enjoyable show that had me laughing but also thinking about the spaces which bring communities together, not only football pitches but other examples which when taken away leave these communities lost.
★★★★
Comments