Hello,

I hope you are well. My name is Ellie and I'm a set and costume designer and an associate artist of November Theatre. I am getting in touch about a project that Director (and Artistic director of NT) Nell Bailey are co-developing and the possibility of some of your players, and alumni being involved.

To give you some more information about the show:

Pitch is a show about Football and the LGBTQIA+ community. In the wake of the controversial Qatar World Cup and eagerly awaiting the 2023 Women’s Tournament, Pitch will bring together a diverse group of queer artists and present a collage of historical and present day queerness in relation to football.

The show is a devised piece, with a documentary focus – created from interviews, objects and stories that emerge from the whole team training together as a 5-a-side squad and interviews with queer players and fans. The audience will watch us play (some of us for the first time), listen to us give a voice to those who couldn’t and still can’t be proud, ask why 30% of football fans admitted they’d find two men kissing at a match uncomfortable and help us imagine a future in which queer presence in football is more than just a debate over a rainbow armband.

As part of the process, Nell and I are reaching out to teams across the UK and asking about the possibility of doing some interviews and collecting sound recordings that we will use as part of our research whilst developing the show. We are based in London, (but are both from Bristol!) and are happy to discuss what connecting could look like. As time is limited to us, we'd love to set up a call, a zoom, or we could send through questions that members who are interested could respond to via video or voice note – whatever you imagine would work well for the team. It's really important that the show is by our community and for the community, which is why we'd love to ensure non-London voices are involved.

The show is currently heading up to the Edinburgh Fringe for a work-in-progress run which we hope will then be followed by a regional tour, meaning we can return the show to those whose voices shaped it.

If you've got any further questions or need to know more about the show please don't hesitate to get in touch.

We both look forward to hearing from you soon!

Best wishes,

Ellie and Nell