EDINBURGH 2017: BWW Q&A- The Giant Killers

Tell us a bit about The Giant Killers.

The Giant Killers is a true story. Its about a group of starving and striking mill workers from Darwen in Lancashire who took on the wealthiest and most influential members of society in a football match in 1879.

Darwen had been a thriving town but The Cotton Famine had left the workers of the town penniless. The son of one of the mill owners returns to the town having been educated at Harrow School. He brings with him the newest past time of the rich - association football. At this time football is just for the wealthy - the F.A. Cup has been going for a few years and is dominated by teams of former public school boys. Darwen become the first team made up of working class players to compete. They are seen as a joke but when they cause an upset in their first match they are drawn against The country's top team - The Old Etonians. This match captures the nations attention and ultimately changes football forever.

Why bring it to Edinburgh?

We feel like we've stumbled on a gem of a story. During the research phase we couldn't believe some of the things we found out and were shocked that nobody had thought to make this into a play or film before. We might be wrong but we felt like we could probably get the show made by handing the story over to an established producing company but we've always wanted to be producers and theatre makers ourselves. Edinburgh is the best place, possibly the only place to come as first time producers, first time writers and say to the world "Hay look what we can do". We want the fringe to be the start of our journey.

What sets it apart from the other shows at the Fringe?

We've been really lucky in that all of our first choices for the roles have said yes. We've got two amazing actors - Tim Barrow and Jimmy Riani-Carter and an incredible director in Natalie-Anne Downs. It was important to us that everyone was paid but the nature of the fringe means you can't pay as much as you would like to (at least in our case) so we had to hope they would choose to do it because they loved it - and they all did. Everyone we have sent it to has said what an amazing story it is and that's why they've chosen to work on it - in terms of what sets us apart - it's those people - I would pay to watch their work.

Who would you recommend comes to see it?

The obvious answer is football fans but the story goes deeper than that. I would say anybody that cares about social injustice and has an interest in History. It's been amazing how many things that are going on in todays society that mirror what was happening in Darwen at the time this play was set. Whenever you get massive inequality you get anger. Sometimes that anger can be pointed in the wrong directions and sometimes it can be harnessed and used to create change and fairer society's.

Any other shows you are hoping to catch?

Mark Thomas - 'A show that gambles on the future' at The Summerhall. All the years I've been watching theatre and the most moving thing I have ever seen on a stage was not by an actor - it was by the comedian Mark Thomas. It was a story he told about a woman who had been raped in a war torn country and how when she got into a court room she was mocked. It looked like she was going to lose her case until she stood up and screamed "This didn't just happen to me - This didn't just happen to me". I saw Mark Thomas tell that story 17 years ago (I've let out some of the finer detail) but I still cry today every time I think of it. It's fair to say we are big fans of Mark Thomas in our house.

Timings and ticket information for The Giant Killers are available on the edfringe website.