Reece Dinsdale is Huddersfield Town through and through but next week he becomes a Leeds United fan.
The actor, previously of Coronation Street and Emmerdale, is playing a lead role and a Leeds role at the Playhouse in Through It All Together - a story inspired by Marcelo Bielsa's Elland Road exploits.
Chris O'Connor's play, described as a 'love letter' to the Argentine former Whites head coach, is about the city's football club and a family living with dementia. It was first put to diehard Terriers fan Dinsdale back in February by the Playhouse's then-artistic director James Brining, and it chimed with him.
Marcelo Bielsa celebration
"I spoke with James Brining, an old mate of mine, just to get the low down on what it was all about, because I hadn't got a script at that stage, I just wanted to ask him what it was, if it was just a kind of play about Leeds United or if there was more to it than that," he told the YEP. "He assured me that it was far more than that. And of course, it's hugely about Leeds United and why not? It's a celebration of Marcelo Bielsa, and that's something to celebrate, but it was so much more than that, and I have to be honest and say that it was the dementia side that really tickled my fancy and the challenge it would present. And so I read it, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. And as a football fan if you can't see what Marcelo Bielsa did for Leeds United, then you really can't call yourself a football fan. I guess we had a similar thing with David Wagner. He did exactly the same thing, he took them from a team probably less celebrated than Leeds were at the time in the lower echelons of the Championship, and it took us within a season and a half to the promised land, when we were absolutely nowhere close to that kind of event happening. So I totally get what happened to Leeds and their fans.
"James allowed Chris to write this, gave him a go, and he loved what he was getting from him. And they, along with the whole team here, put together what they wanted, until they got the finished goods. And obviously the brilliant Gitika [Buttoo, director] has come on board with her input too. So I'm in good hands. I'm a professional actor, I played Richard III but I didn't have to go and kill any princess in the tower. I do what I do, and if I find something in it that's worth telling, I'm more than happy to be involved."
For writer O'Connor and others in the cast, including Shobna Gulati and Natalie Davies, the play has special and personal meaning because dementia has touched their lives. It was that theme that drew Dinsdale to the project and he likes the way the play deals with it and draws attention to it.
"Dementia affects all of us at some point or other, whether it be you have dementia yourself, or whether it be your mum, your dad, your auntie, your grandma, your sister, your mate, your lover, your girlfriend, your boyfriend," he said. "It's one of those things that nobody escapes and we all know about it, but maybe not enough people are aware of how it affects people in great detail. There's a light to be shone on it that I think we can all learn from, especially people who are caring for people with dementia. It's not the end of life, it's just the beginning of a different life, a different way and and people learn to live with it for as long as they possibly can. And there's fun and the humour and there are new things to be found in what you might be able to do with your life. You know, one door closes and sometimes others unexpectedly open. I know in the play, the character discovers as dementia kind of takes hold, he becomes a really fine artist, and they didn't even know it.
"I read a book by Wendy Mitchell, somebody I used to know, and she just didn't succumb to it taking over and being the end of her life. She decided she would take the challenge and she had many years of living a different life, but a fulfilling life and giving back to other people. So we don't want to do a play that just shows the downside of it all, there undoubtedly is one, but there can be joy. There can be families coming together. They can be a great love, that love holds everybody together. The play is very uplifting. Undeniably sad, but with the Leeds angle as well, his love and passion for Leeds United, his wife. It's bittersweet, but there's a lot of joy involved with it. And who wouldn't want to be involved with that?"
Leeds United Fever Pitch
The Playhouse has obviously been keen to get word out to the Leeds fans in the city that a Bielsa-inspired play is gracing their stage, but Dinsdale believes it will resonate no matter who you support.
"When Nick Hornby wrote Fever Pitch and I read that, I thought it was a terrific book on football," he said. "I remember thinking, yes, it's about a Gunner, but it wasn't. It was about every football fan in this country who has ever felt that way about a football club. And I say this about the play. You know, if you support Coventry or Tranmere Rovers or Real Madrid or Huddersfield Town or Leeds United, if you really support them, if you really love your football, if they mean so much to you, the passion is exactly the same. Certain teams might like to claim a monopoly on the bigger passion. It's not the case. The case is, if you really, truly love your football and they give you something and they mean something, it is exactly the same. And we can all identify with that. And that's what I identify with. I love Huddersfield Town. My granddad was a great supporter of them in the 1920s when they were the greatest team in the land, when they did what Leeds can only dream of, dare I say, and won the top division three years in a row.
"My granddad took my dad, post war. Then my dad took me, and my first game was December 16 1967 at home to Bristol City. I was only eight. We lost 3-0 and I was hooked. And now I take my boy, I've been taking him since he was four or something. This is not a good thing I do to myself, but we love it. It means the world to us."
Leeds United Huddersfield Town rivalry
The rivalry that exists between Leeds and near-neighbours Huddersfield was always going to raise eyebrows or smirks when Dinsdale's participation was confirmed. He admits there has been some good-natured stick sent his way. But even as he prepares to convince audiences that he loves Leeds, he reveals there's a moment in the play in which he can truly be himself.
"To be fair, people know what I do," he said. "If they understand what it means to be an actor and do whatever role comes your way, I've had some really nice light-hearted ribbing, shall we say, from a lot of friends. A lot of them will come along. There is actually a line in the play, with his condition he doesn't understand why a game between Huddersfield Town and West Bromwich Albion could be worth watching on the television. Why are we watching this? Why are we watching this? I don't understand. I don't understand. And Shobna's character Sue says 'Howard if Huddersfield win this game Leeds United go up into the promised land, the Premier League. And he says, I never thought I'd say this but 'come on Huddersfield!' I think I might give that line a bit of welly."
Through It All Together runs from Monday June 23 to July 19 at Leeds Playhouse.
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