Last Goal Replay – challenging and funny asks important questions about the beautiful game | Section

Eentering a small studio that has the opportunity to play football, which has already been done. Victory of Charlton Athletic and Youssef, in Nigeria to try out the last two stages of the country’s World Cup group, are practicing, while their coach (athlete Jerome Ngonadi) appeals to the audience to receive penalties. I miss it spectacularly; production does the opposite.

Part of the season of Ryan Calais Cameron – the Olivier-nominated playwright chose three writers of Black and Global Majority to receive financial support and advice – his author, Justice Ezi, is an obvious talent, asking larger questions about racism, belonging and sometimes exercising through the experiences of three men and especially their relationship in Nigeria.

It’s the last chance for veteran Victory (a very disappointed Benjamin Akintuyosi) to play for the country he grew up in, and change the lives of his young family. Alexander Lobo Moreno’s footballer, Youssef, who grew up in England, is very worried about his followers, a former football fan, and what he can give to the team of Morocco, the country of his mother’s birth. But when Michael, the rich white star of Arsenal who left Nigeria at the age of five (and who is inspired by the hope of luck with Cameron Forrest) unexpectedly joins the process, the discussion about who deserves a place starts to revolve more and more about who can speak Igbo or cook a minute to beat who will score or save the winning shot.

Well-acted and well-crafted, if it doesn’t go well until the end, Ezi’s writing is very funny. Michael is a “skinny, smooth white guy”, there are funny jokes about racists in England, and a lot of humor from the joy of Nigerian culture. Her performance is bold, and director Kalungi Ssebandeke does admirably in small spaces with the help of Gabrielle Nimo’s excellent moving work. The final selection game, accompanied by the sound of high speed and lighting, and two stoppage goals, which turn green when someone scores, is a nail-biter.

These don’t leave us with clean answers. Even the questionable hiring decisions of Nigerian assistant manager Zanza Azuka (played by Kossim Osseni) are controversial. And all the best to that; his style makes this production as challenging and exciting as it is fun and exciting.