Down the stairs…

Along the corridor…

Round the corner…

Into the dressing room… HIS dressing room. Hateful, hateful place. Spiteful, spiteful place. Dirty, dirty Leeds.

1974. Brian Clough, the enfant terrible of British football, tries to redeem his managerial career and reputation by winning the European Cup with his new team. Leeds United. The team he has openly despised for years, the team he hates and which hates him. Don Revie’s Leeds.

Originally co-produced with the West Yorkshire Playhouse, The Damned United takes you inside the tortured mind of a genius slamming up against his limits, and brings to life the beauty and brutality of football, the working man’s ballet.

‘a masterpiece of theatre’ -  9/10 review from Liverpool Sound and Vision

‘a fascinating, if fictional, psychological study of one of sport’s most complex, charismatic and infuriating characters’ 4* review from Arts City Liverpool

‘this could very easily have been an exercise in lionisation, but the decision to show, in equal measure, Clough’s strengths and weaknesses is a smart one’ 4* review from The List 

‘powerful and demanding, Red Ladder Theatre Company’s production of The Damned United is every bit as belligerent and uncompromising as the protagonist of its story.’ 4* review from Broadway Baby.

‘Yes, this a play about football, but it’s so much more than that. It’s a tribute to an era-defining genius, a portrait of a man terminally wrapped-up in his own bravado, a study of loyalty and friendship under pressure…’ 4* Review in The Stage

‘This is an intimate character study of one of sport’s biggest personalities and is a brilliant production for both football fans and theatre lovers.’ 4* Review from Threeweeks Edinburgh

‘…the production captures the essence of one man’s tortured mind and his attempts to do things his way.’ 5* Review from Daily Business Magazine

By Anders Lustgarten
Adapted from the novel by David Peace
In association with Unity Theatre Liverpool

Dates