The World Cup of Comedy Comes To Soho

Oh yes, he did.

During the Euro 2020 final, super fan Charlie Perry went viral when he famously stuck a flare up his buttocks, and a photographer caught it on camera then shared it on Twitter.

This act became a symbol of British over-the-top football (what we call soccer) fan culture. It was fictionalized by writer/actor/producer Alex Hill from Egham, England, in his one-man play “Why I Stuck a Flare Up My Arse for England” and is now making its limited run American debut off Broadway at the Soho Playhouse.

“I was in my second year of drama school when I saw that photo,” says Hill, “and I thought that would make a really interesting one-man play about a football fan who goes to extreme lengths for his team, maybe trying to impress your mates or do something stupid just to get a laugh. I banked it for a year, and then when I graduated, I started writing, and it turned into an Edinburgh Fringe show.”

Billy Kinley, the character Hill plays, is completely fictionalized. “The only thing that’s true [in the play] is the flare,” he jokes.

And because in comedy, timing is everything, the acclaimed show is opening at the height of World Cup fever.

The multi-award-winning production—including the Holden Street Theatres Award, the Best Theatre & Physical Theatre Award at Adelaide Fringe, Best Theatre & Performance at Perth Fringe World, and an Offie Award—transforms a pub-worthy story moment into a funny, raw, and disarmingly honest exploration of identity, loyalty, and belonging.

“I knew that I had to give it some depth and add loads of layers,: he told Straus News. “The play is about belonging, really, and growing up and trying to find your tribe.”

The show opens with Billy sticking a flare up his bum, and then we flashback to him at ten years old when he meets his best school friend, Adam. Through their teen years, they go to local football games, support their team, and genuinely fall in love with the game.

When they turn 18, though, Adam gets a really good job, but Billy doesn’t, and the two men drift apart, although they still have football every Saturday to hinge their lives on. But it becomes apparent that Billy’s taken his support one step further, thanks to “a new group of mates down the pub” who lead him astray with their fighting and cocaine.

Hill says that the show has evolved over the past two years. “It’s changed quite a bit, just in my confidence in it. When I first went to Edinburgh, I was just hoping that people would like it. But now, because I’ve done it near on 200 times, [the final show in New York will be the 200th performance], I’ve just got more confidence, ad-libbing and improvising. It’s a much more dynamic piece.”

He also made clear that you don’t need to have an insider’s knowledge of the sport to get the show. “In fact, there are a lot of musical theater references because I come from theater as well. Football’s a background rather than the story.

“I think the thing that drives the story is the character, Billy Kinley. It’s quite a universal character, and it’s easy to understand the way he operates.”

Director Sean Turner, with his physical comedy experience, has been instrumental in shaping the show.

“Something that Sean really demanded of me as an actor was to just throw myself in at high energy,” says Hill, and adds, “It’s just me on stage for a 75-minute runtime, and so he basically said at one point, ‘I want you to be sweating by the end of it. I want you to have a real workout as this character,’ and we found such excitement within the character. That basically made me bring it into my body more and give it 110 percent.”

The show is produced by RoxyDog Productions. The production team includes Joel Clements (Set Design), James Dean (Light & Video Design), and Sam Baxter (Sound Design.)

After what’s sure to be a successful New York finale, the award-winning performer is heading to Edinburgh to star in a new play called “The Jolly Fisherman.” He also plans to “start writing some more stuff and hopefully get some more auditions and parts. I’d love to do TV and film.”

Even though this is not the first time he’s been to New York, it’s Hill’s first time performing here, and he’s excited to do so. “I love it in New York. It is amazing.”

Show the love back, and get your “arse” down to Soho.

“Why I Stuck a Flare Up My Arse for England” at the SoHo Playhouse July 8–18. To purchase tickets and for more info, go to https://www.sohoplayhouse.com.

Lorraine Diuffy Merkl, a regular contributor to Straus News publications, is the author of the novel “The Last Single Woman In New York City.”