Latics fans will cheer but play lacks bite

THEY'VE done it! Front, left to right, Sakuntala Ramanee, John Elkington, Jenny Platt, Gurjeet Singh, Richard J Fletcher, Des O'Malley and Yasmeen Khalaf in Meat Pie, Sausage Roll

MEAT PIE, SAUSAGE ROLL

(Oldham Coliseum, to March 25)

GO to praise Oldham Athletic in its annus mirabilis and if that's your aim you will enjoy this noisy, chanty, occasionally cheeky slice of local life writ large, which gained an extra cheer last night with the walk-on appearance of Latics hero of the day Andy Ritchie.

But that's the best of "Meat Pie, Sausage Roll", because the rest of the enterprise is rather clunky and clumsy, with unmemorable songs.

Alison Heffernan's gantry, crowds and billboards set conjures well the utilitarian nature of Sheepfoot Lane as it was in the '90/91 season of Joe Royle's blue and white army. That was the year the boys in the boots got most of the way to everything going and finally rose to the top flight as division champions, in the last minute of the last game of the season.

Asif (Gurjeet Singh), a friend of Latics fan Kev (Des O'Malley) and his father Mick (John Elkington), meets up again with childhood pal, Kev's sister, Mandi (Jenny Platt), when she returns home from London to win a commission from Asif's company.

Clunky

Renewed friendship leads to love and a wedding date for Asif and Mandi that... clashes with that final match of the season. Will dad and Kev turn up or go to the game? Even these two rabid fans (and their mate Woody, played by Richard J Fletcher, who turns out not to be much of a mate) won't spoil the bride's day, but there's another spanner in the works and a rather late race card that seems unnecessarily forced on the enterprise.

The problem is that between the chants the script is a bit clunky, and though the performance of the night from Des O'Malley as Kev, goes some way towards making us laugh, not a lot else does.

Writers Cathy Crabb and Lindsay Williams, and composer Carol Donaldson - the team that offered "Dreamers" a couple of seasons ago - conjure well the singing that rang down the terraces as hefty crowds urged the team to its highest achievements in modern history, and capture the atmosphere of the crowd with the help of "community" cast members.

But that's really where the praise slides down the plastic pitch off the field, for what director Kevin Shaw has been unable to do with the limp script is make the rest of the show as big a thrill as the achievement of the team.