Actors get a workout in Leeds as they prepare for opening of new play set in world of British wrestling

Getting to grips with the demands of a role is an important challenge for any actor.
The cast of new play Glory show off their wrestling moves.The cast of new play Glory show off their wrestling moves.
The cast of new play Glory show off their wrestling moves.

And that’s particularly true for the cast of Glory, a new play set in the no-frills world of British wrestling.

Penned by Yorkshire writer Nick Ahad, it features plenty of grapple action as it tells the story of faded star Jim ‘Glorious’ Glory and amateur wrestlers Dan, Ben and Sami.

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The cast members have been in training since the start of this week to ensure they look the part when the play opens later this month.

And today, at a gym in Morley, Nick had his first glimpse of how they are shaping up as they follow in the footsteps of grunt ‘n’ groan stars of the Seventies like Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks.

He came away mightily impressed, telling the Yorkshire Evening Post: “We’ve got someone on board called Kevin McCurdy, who is one of the best fight directors in the country, and he’s been choreographing really carefully exactly what happens in the wrestling matches.

“It looks amazing, having seen it for the first time. I’ve been writing things like, ‘Dan gets Ben in a headlock then he somersaults out of it’, and there’s a part of you thinking, ‘is this really going to work?’.

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“To finally see it, and for it to genuinely look better than it did in my head, was brilliant.”

Glory is being staged as a co-production by Leeds’s Red Ladder Theatre Company and The Dukes Theatre in Lancaster, in association with London’s Tamasha theatre company.

Described as a “state of the nation” piece, it tackles issues such as race, identity and what it means to be British in 2019.

Directed by Rod Dixon, it will run at The Dukes Theatre from February 21 to March 2 before heading out on a nationwide tour.

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The tour includes dates at Wakefield’s Grove Hall on March 8, Belle Isle Working Men’s Club in Leeds on March 12, Wakefield’s Cluntergate Centre on March 22 and the Albion Electric Warehouse in Leeds from April 1 to 6.

The play’s cast comprises Josh Hart (Dan), Jamie Smelt (Jim Glory), Ali Azhar (Sami) and Joshua Lyster (Ben), who were all put through their wrestling paces at Morley’s Brain and Brawn Fitness today.

For further information, visit the www.redladder.co.uk website.