The Hammers A Musical Poster
A musical about West Ham United Football Club, The Hammers, from the perspective of the players and the local community.
The original play was written by Alan Plater to celebrate Hull City (The Tigers are Coming – OK?). Willy Russell’s first play at the Liverpool Everyman, directed by Pam Brighton, was a rewrite, moving the action to trace Liverpool Football Club’s rise through 20 unbeaten weeks in 1949 to the 1964 FA Cup Win at Wembley. His play was called When the Reds and the cast included Bernard Hill and Anthony Sher. Billy Colvill then adapted it to depict West Ham United and the lives of East Enders.
Poster designs by Martin J Walker and printing by Walker and Brittain, Red Dragon Print collective.
Theatre director Roland Jaquarello talks about The Hammers, a musical about West Ham football club and the East End community. Interviewed by Rosie Vincent.
Peter Conway ran drama workshops in youth clubs in Tower Hamlets in the 1970s on behalf of Half Moon Theatre and went on to work for the local authority for many years. He talks about the musical, The Hammers, about West Ham United Football Club and the performance attended by the players themselves. Interviewed by Toni Tsaera.
[Referring to the Time Out review above] That is a great photo and review – I remember it now. I remember Dusty Hughes being in the audience (a very high profile Time Out critic at the time who went on to become a successful playwright himself) and he sat there and did not crack a smile throughout the whole performance and then wrote a very good review to our great surprise. The four actors in the photo are myself on left, Maurice Colbourne in the middle, Anthea Meadows sitting down and Philip McGough standing behind her.
You can see videos of Mary’s interview here.
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