Wearing Colours The Play

With the anniversary of Heysel and the cup draw against Juventus. I was reminded of a play called 'Wearing Colours' that I saw a number of times in Liverpool in the years following. It was written by local LFC fan John Dillon (who lives opposite Mellwood) and performed by the excellent 'Vauxy Theatre'. I saw Wearing Colours over a dozen times in various pubs, clubs and bars and it never failed to captivate, silence and move the audience. It tells the story of four very different 'ordinary' Liverpool fans who have travelled to Belgium in the best of spirits looking forward to witnessing another LFC triumph in Europe. It is very intimate, the action totally confined to the hotel room which the lads share. The first half as they eagerly prepare to go to the match, and the second half, when they return, after having been split up, and relate to each other (and us) their experiences, and thus unfolds their own-our own private inquest into the nights catastrophic events. The two halfs of the play are punctuated by taped actual radio reports of the disaster unfolding and of taped quotes from Mr Shankly, in particular the famous "matter of life and rest" quote, immensely moving and used to great effect. Having been present at Heysel myself and witnessed the disaster unfold first hand, I found watching Wearing Colours to be a raw, acutely insightful and thought provoking piece of theatre. For me at least, the play questioned and provided some balance to the tabloid press hysteria that inevitably followed in the wake of the disaster and, managed, through each of the four protaganists experiences, to articulate my own feelings of anger, frustration and incredulity. Vauxy Theatre did manage to get a version of Wearing Colours produced on video and I remember seeing it screened one late night on ITV some years later. Anyone else have any experience of seeing this play-video production? Regards, Andy