I'll be Bert - Exeter

Following its sell-out premiere at the Everyman Studio Theatre in Cheltenham,  I'll Be Bert is now touring the UK. Written and performed by Bill Cronshaw, a lifelong Manchester City fan, the play takes an affectionate look at growing up in post-war Manchester and the impact that Bert Trautmann, City's legendary German goalkeeper, had on an impressionable schoolboy.

This one-man play offers a humorous and wistful slant on hero worship and club loyalty, appealing to football fans and non-fans alike. It is played out to maximum potential on a simple set using minimal props and costumes with the audience identifying with the array of different characters' situations encountered as the play progresses.

With current football players accorded superstar, showbiz status, this performance reminds us of a time when players earned five quid a week and a broken neck was treated by a bloke with a bucket of water and a sponge!