Interview with Alex Hill, Why I Stuck A Flare Up My Arse For England

Heading to London following a successful run at last year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Why I Stuck A Flare Up My Arse For England returns to the stage at Southwark Playhouse for a limited run. We spoke with Alex Hill, the writer and performer in the play to find out more.

Alex! To begin with can you tell us a little bit about your journey into writing? What gravitated you towards it as a career?

Acting! Writing was a byproduct of loving acting, reading scripts and watching theatre. One of my tutors at drama school, Jake Vithana (who is also the dramaturg for ‘flare’) invited our year to write a short film for the following graduating year. I jumped at the opportunity and that gave me the confidence to write a play. As cliche as it sounds, I wrote the play that I wanted to see and what has been particularly amazing about this experience is seeing the entire process from opening up a Word Document on a laptop to seeing people rig lights to performing night after night. It’s been such a joy! 

Your work Why I Stuck A Flare Up My Arse For England performed at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe, what was that experience like and has it taught you anything about yourself or the industry that you didn’t know beforehand?

Edinburgh was unforgettable. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done and it taught me a lot about the physical demands of sustaining a play and keeping an audience awake for an hour! I learnt a lot in that month and I’ll always be grateful for how it helped me develop as a performer. 

For those who are intrigued by your play, can you tell us a little bit about it?

It’s a high-octane, one man play about a young football fan named Billy. Him and his best mate Adam go to the football every week without fail. Like for a lot of people, it’s their absolute escape after a long week. When they stumble across a new group of mates, they start to take their ‘support’ one step further…

There was a person who actually lit a flare in his bum at England's Euros final, is this play specifically based on that news story? What drew you to making a show about it if so?

Yes and no… the bum flare incident was the starting image in my own creative writing process. Other than that, the character and story is completely fictionalised. There was something quite shocking and dare I say, brave, about a man putting a pyrotechnic between his bum cheeks for the world to see. I knew there was drama in it and I knew it was a great catalyst to use to tell a story. 

There is definitely a culture around football fans, did you dive into this a lot when developing your piece?

I love football so I’m constantly surrounded by it and consider myself to be a part of that culture… in one way or another. I go to watch Brentford play home and away every week and I’m completely addicted to the buzz of those 90 minutes when the ball is in play. Something happens when the ref blows that whistle for the first time and I’m constantly fascinated by how fans choose to express themselves at games. Of course, there’s a darker side to the culture. I believe that that sort of behaviour comes from somewhere and there’s always a reason behind it. In some ways, I think the play is my own exploration and explanation of that. 

There are deeper themes covered in Why I Stuck A Flare Up My Arse For England, was this something you always wanted to have integrated into your work?

I think so! I’m usually drawn to stories that have something a bit deeper going on underneath the surface. Storytelling and theatre is a great way of looking at human expression and making sense of the weird and wonderful things that we do and go through. I think it would be a shame to not explore the slightly darker side of humanity from time to time. It’s definitely something I’ll continue to do in my work. 

If people saw this up in Edinburgh, have there been many changes during its transfer to Southwark Playhouse?

Our creative team has grown which has allowed for more possibilities onstage. Sam Baxter’s original sound design has been built upon to fit the bigger space at Southwark Playhouse. We’ve got a stunning lighting design by Matt Cater and a vibrant set design by Joel Clements. These different production elements have really elevated the show and I can’t wait to perform alongside them. I’m constantly developing the script so there’s a lot of changes to that too!

What audiences will this play appeal to?

Honestly… everyone! I hope that football fans will love it but I intentionally wrote the other characters in Billy’s world to have interests other than football. His dad is a massive theatre fan which allows for some cheeky musical theatre references. It’s really a play for anyone who’s ever wanted to feel a sense of belonging in this world, which is most of us. 

After Southwark Playhouse, what do you hope from the next step of Why I Stuck A Flare Up My Arse For England?

Southwark Playhouse is already a massive achievement for us and I’m so grateful for the opportunity. We’re heading back to Edinburgh Fringe this year and embarking on a UK tour after that. I think there could be an even wider audience for this play and I hope it continues to grow… in which direction? You can never know for sure!

Lastly, if people haven’t booked tickets - why should they?! 

This is a turbulent, fast-paced hour, frantic hour of theatre. If it’s not for you, there probably won't be too long to go and you’ll still have most of your evening left! But really, I think people should book to watch a unique story about a football fan who goes to ‘explosive’ lengths to fit in. I think it’ll shock and hopefully move a few people and with the EURO 2024 tournament around the corner, there’s never been a better time for it. BOOK BOOK BOOK!

Why I Stuck A Flare Up My Arse For England performs at the Southwark Playhouse Borough until 4 May 2024.