Balally Players - The Giant Killers

The Giant Killers

Written by Eve and Andrew Pearson-Wright
Directed by Gary Wall
Performed in: dlr Mill Theatre Studio 11-13 October 2018 and on the One-Act Drama Circuit.

The poster for 'The Giant Killers' featuring the cast (l-r): Kate Canning, Sean Murphy, Declan O’Loughlin and David Walsh.

The Giant Killers by Eve and Andrew Pearson-Wright, directed by Gary Wall, is the inspiring true story of football’s greatest ever underdogs.

Set in the early years of Association Football, The Giant Killers follows a ragtag bunch of Lancashire mill workers who defied all odds to become the first working-class team in the country to play in the FA Cup.

'The Giant Killers' team. Standing (l-r) David Walsh, Gary Wall. Seated (l-r) Kate Canning, Sean Murphy, Declan O'Loughlin

Left tired and despondent from the cotton famine of the 1870s, this small group of northern lads found pride and hope in a game that up until then had been reserved for the upper classes. Darwen FC rose up against prevailing social prejudice and the might of the Football Association, to earn a place in history as the first real ‘giant-killers’ in English football, and take on the “poshest team of all” – The Old Etonians. Scoring a massive moral victory for all working class people, the team proved that passion and spirit is worth more than wealth and privilege. When the Battlefield is the football pitch, everyone is equal. The Giant Killers is an absorbing, heartfelt story of a town that came together to achieve the impossible and win the respect of the nation. A rip-roaring evening out, whether you know the off-side rule or not!

'The Giant Killers' was Balally Players' entry in the 2018 National One Act Festival and was performed in the dlr Mill Theatre again on Friday 2 November 2018 as part of the Dundrum One Act Festival. The production received awards in the preliminary rounds and reached the All Ireland One Act Drama Festival Finals in Kilmuckridge, Co Wexford, where the production won an adjudicator’s award for design (Set and Costume)..

**Cast for 'The Giant Killers'**
Bobby Lucy Billy James	Sean Murphy Kate Canning Declan O'Loughlin David Walsh

**Production Team for 'The Giant Killers'**
Director Production Manager Stage Manager Sound Designer Costume Design Lighting Sound Operators Set Design Set Construction Crew	Gary Wall Aoibhinn Finnegan Patrick Hand Jacqueline Wall Dympna Murray Gary Wall Hilary Madigan, Aoife Braden Dympna Murray, Patrick Hand, and Bairbre Murray Patrick Hand Oran O'Rua, Aoife Braiden

Director Gary Wall accepts the Adjudicator’s Award for Design (Set & Costume) in ‘The Giant Killers’ at the All Ireland One Act Drama Finals 2018 in Kilmuckridge.

The cast of The Giant Killers': (back row l-r) David Walsh, Declan O'Loughlin.
(front row l-r) Kate Canning, Sean Murphy.