EDINBURGH 2026: Review: THE PITCH, Pleasance
The Pitch runs at Edfringe until 31 August
The Pitch is a comedy-drama written by Philip Catherwood, set in East Belfast.
Robbie (James Grimm) is a football-mad teenager who is furious to learn that his local pitch is set to be converted into a Gaelic football pitch. He sees it as an invasion of his culture and doesn’t recognise Gaelic football as a proper sport. He meets Deren (Jake Douglas) after practice one day and the two bond over sports before he realises that it's Deren’s team planning to take over the pitch.
Robbie is close to his sister Melissa (Dión Di Maio) who also plays football but by her own admission, isn’t very good. She gets to know Deren and her willingness to engage with someone with different beliefs influences Robbie.
The timeline takes place at the time of a referendum deciding whether there will be a united Ireland and Robbie and Deren fall on different sides of the debate. Robbie is argumentative but Deren is reasonable and persuasive about both the referendum and Gaelic football. As Robbie becomes more willing to listen, he starts to come around to the idea that Gaelic football might not be such a bad thing after all.
What Catherwood’s writing captures so perfectly is the interaction between three adolescents. There’s a political undercurrent but the trio mostly want to chat about sports and dating. The three performers are excellent and bring warmth and humour to this piece and make this a hugely entertaining experience. The 70-minute run time flies by, and I was genuinely sad when it was over.
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