YouTube: Romancing the Score - traditional pubs monologue by James McAnespy

James McAnespy as Brian, railing against the craft beer phenomenon that has swept across the country. What happened to the traditional boozer? From the premier of Romancing the Score by Shane White. Performed at the Pentameters Theatre, Hamstead, February 2015. Directed by John Dunne; Produced by Leonie Scott-Matthews.

Romancing the Score - traditional pubs monologue by James McAnespy

Past Work: Romancing the Score at the Pentameters Theatre Hampstead (2015)

One of the stage productions I had been part of in London that I didn't produce myself was Romancing the Score in the quaint little Pentameters Theatre in Hampstead. The comedy was written by Armagh writer Shane White, about a group of no-hopers who represented a small Belfast pub in a local 5-a-side league.

Rehearsal shot of Romancing the Score. L-R: Myself, Damien Regan, Jon Adams, James Anthony, Mark Moore

Half way through the run of Romancing the Score

We're approaching the half way point of the run of Romancing the Score, Shane White's play about a 5-a-side pub team in Belfast, playing at the Pentameters Theatre.

The cast of eight includes myself as the player-manager, Brian Fitzpatrick; Victoria Armstrong as an intrepid young journalist; James Antony as 'under-cover agent' Grish; Jon Adams as striker Frankie; Mark Moore as undertaker Six Feet; Damien Regan as sullen barman Jim; Paulina Ferry as Miriam and Maura Judges as Bessie.

Directed by John Dunne, the action takes place in a contemporary Belfast "pub of misfits" as they doggedly seek out their first win in the local five-a-side league.

It runs in Pentameters Theatre (28 Heath Street, London NW3 6TE (Hampstead tube)) Tuesday to Sundays until February 22 2015. Tickets can be purchased online for £10 at http://www.irish-theatre.com/ or £13 on the door.

CASTING ANNOUNCEMENT: Cast in London Irish Theatre's next production, Romancing The Score

I am delighted to announce that I have been cast in the next production of the burgeoning London Irish Theatre Company, Romancing the Score, written by Shane White, directed by John Dunne and produced by Leonie Scott-Matthews.

The comedy, set in present day Belfast, centres around a pub football team and their disastrous attempts to compete with teams from the snazzy gastropubs. I play the team player/manager Brian who is steadfastly holding onto the traditions of the old boozers in the face of the trendy bars with their pulled pork and Thai menus.

I am joined in the cast by Victoria Armstrong, Maura Judges, Paulina Ferry, Jon Adams, Mark Moore and Tom Shah. It runs Tuesday-Sundays from 3-27 February 2015, at the Pentameters Theatre in Hampstead. Tickets are priced at £13/£10, with a special £10 online price that can be purchased here.

Romancing The Score introduces the world of Five-A-Side football and its intense rivalry. At odds with the recent and on-going emergence of modern bars, one of the remaining traditional pubs, Lavery's, steadfastly resists modernisation. Their pub team attempts to deflate the egos of the new bars by a defiant display on the football pitch. Unfortunately Bridie's team is made up of less-than-able players who traditionally suffer humiliating defeats. Tradition is all-important to this pub! However, is this love of all things traditional merely a mask disguising a fear of the future, a fear of change?

A city rising from the ashes, dispensing with old rivalries and tired, worn out traditions, consigning them to the quagmire that is the past. But, hey, ho, it takes upon itself new ones. Where better to start than down the pub and where better to be down the pub than in Belfast. And not just any old pub, one particular old pub, Bridie's. Romancing The Score goes to the true heart of the game of football, of life, of lost hope, of unrequited love...of loneliness.

Pentameters Theatre, 28 Heath Street, London NW3 6TE (Hampstead tube)

3-22 Feb ‘15 @ 8pm (5pm Sundays) 

@ £13/£10 (SPECIAL PAYPAL BOOKING @ £10)