Through It All Together - a play about Bielsa
- Published
"It's his presence and the way people talk about him. He lives in our imagination as much as he does in reality."
That's how Leeds Playhouse artistic director James Brining eulogises former Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa and how the Argentine affected the club and the city.
"He had an aura about him that I do not see in any other football manager. He has a different quality."
Bielsa has been gone from Elland Road for almost three years. His body of work and other-worldly way, you feel, will resonate forever around these parts.
Brining wants to make sure it is remembered and reinvigorated in his new production being premiered in Leeds this June - Through It All Together.
The play, written by Chris O'Connor, is about a fictional couple, Howard and Sue, massive Leeds fans, one of whom is living with dementia.
"I'm trying to reflect the city and how many different aspects of that city went on a journey during Bielsa's era," explains O'Connor, an avid Leeds fan himself.
"I'm always unsure how football translates on stage. It's hard to do well and I've also wanted to write something about dementia. I have a close family member who lives with it."
For Brining, Bielsa's influence was omnipresent: "What he is and was is something beyond that (football). What he did was about reframing what a club could be in relation to its fans and its city.
"He demonstrated that fairly modest Championship players could play in the Premier League and excel because of belief, teamwork, the values he instilled in them and the culture that he created."
After the premiere in Leeds this summer, ideally after another promotion, the duo have high hopes to see the play go on tour.
"First and foremost you want to write entertaining stories," adds O'Connor. "But I'd like some people to maybe feel differently about dementia. And I'd like people to relive memories we all had when Leeds got promoted."
As for Bielsa himself, Brining says they will reach out and let him know he has inspired the play. Brining missed Bielsa when he visited the Playhouse with his family during his tenure at the club.
Shortly afterwards he wrote to the artistic director to say how much he enjoyed the experience: "The theatre is important for people's souls. I love what you are doing and together we are doing the same sort of thing."
In his own humble way I think he will approve from the wings with a "Very good, Brining!"
Through It All Together runs at the Leeds Playhouse from 23 June to 19 July.
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