On the Red Pitch, Young Athletes Say Goodbye to Their Gentrifying Neighborhood

In the Western theater canon, so many dramas follow characters deciding whether to embrace a home or abandon it. Playwrights like Anton Chekhov and Lorraine Hansberry wrote about large families fiercely debating this choice, inspiring contemporary dramatists (Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Matthew Lòpez, James Ijames) to stage similar debates about home across America.

British playwright Tyrell Williams works in this tradition with his play Red Pitch, now making its U.S. premiere at Olney Theatre Center after a West End production. The show follows three Black 16-year-old footballers—soccer players, in American parlance. The entire play takes place on their home of sorts, a red football pitch tucked within a rapidly changing South London neighborhood (one inspired by Williams’ own upbringing). B