"Why I Stuck A Flare Up My Ar** For England"
2025 Award Winner
The Studio at Holden Street Theatres
Tue, 18 Feb - Sun, 23 Mar
This is a must-see during Fringe 2025! Once again, Martha Lott's great eye for exceptional theatre has resulted in a remarkable show resident at Holden Street Theatres.
Along with Shellshocked - An Explosive New Play", "Why I Stuck A Flare Up My Ar** For England" (WISAFUMAFE) stands out as yet another example of exceptionally well crafted theatre emanating from Great Britain. Some of my reviews have noted the Yorkshire presence here in 2025; WISAFUMAFE is unmistakably Southern in tone and accent. Yet it resonates across any community where blokes, sport, alcohol and drugs coalesce into a volatile cocktail of behaviors simply serving to mask the fragility of the male psyche. It’s not a new thing. Assigned the moniker “toxic masculinity,” or some other sweeping rush stroke description, the culture portrayed by writer and performer Alex Hill is symptomatic of the conditions that have led to Andrew Tate, Donald Trump and others enjoying the power people have given them!
Given our hero Billy Kinley is emblematic of disenfranchised white Englishmen, probably of working class or lower middle-class demographic, it bemused me that 90 % - an anecdotal observation- of the audience was white Anglo-Saxon middle aged+, middle class! Wait, is that a acronym? WASMA+MC! Anyway, arguably the closest thing in Australia to English Football culture – and it doesn’t come close- is the oft-derided AFL cheer squad! And when I say it doesn’t come close to British Football culture, it’s as far off as London is to Adelaide!
Alex Hill’s superb writing and performance conveys a culture that, for a young lad who didn’t do well in school, lost his mother during his teens and works for his hairdresser father, offers a sense of belonging and purpose in its inherent tribalism. Billy, whose job entails sweeping up hair and making tea and coffee for clients finds something greater than himself- he finds his raison d'être !
The play opens with Billy recounting the situation leading him to sticking a flare up his arse for England. Younger readers, please note the spelling! “Arse,” not “ass,” which is something else entirely! Anyway, the narrative quickly finds us reminiscing with Billy about his best friend Adam. The two boys, who were quiet at school, found their shared passion, football. However, it turns out, through a series of very clever theatrical devices, that Adam is the purist ; Billy is on board for different, entirely reasonable reasons. Billy regales us with stories of overconsumption of lager, a pre-game culture that makes the mind boggle, and his love for Daisy, a waitress and musician with whom he falls deeply in love. It is this love affair that brings us to see how dreadfully disconnected some people have become from the most basic courtesies of relationships.
"Why I Stuck A Flare Up My Ar** For England" is a powerful exposé into a world that, while remote to many of us, has immediate and consequential impact. And Alex Hill performance is simply brilliant- the way he managed late comers to bring them up to speed with the narrative was hilarious!
Go! See it!