A roaring return for the Tigers

Alan Plater's new play follows the fortunes of Hull City Football Club down the generations

It's hardly an episode of Footballers' Wives, but Confessions of a City Supporter is a new comedy by the Bafta-winning playwright Alan Plater about Hull City Football Club. The play is a celebration of the Tigers' centenary year and the club's recent promotion. "It meant I had to wait until the season was over before I could start writing the play," says Plater, who is best known for his TV dramatisations Fortunes Of War, based on the novels by Olivia Manning, and The Beiderbecke Trilogy. "I didn't know if I was writing a play about a team that was on the crest of a wave or one that had just endured yet another failure at the last moment."

It's hardly an episode of Footballers' Wives, but Confessions of a City Supporter is a new comedy by the Bafta-winning playwright Alan Plater about Hull City Football Club. The play is a celebration of the Tigers' centenary year and the club's recent promotion. "It meant I had to wait until the season was over before I could start writing the play," says Plater, who is best known for his TV dramatisations Fortunes Of War, based on the novels by Olivia Manning, and The Beiderbecke Trilogy. "I didn't know if I was writing a play about a team that was on the crest of a wave or one that had just endured yet another failure at the last moment."

Plater is a dedicated, long-time Hull City supporter. "I lived in Hull for a large chunk of my life until I moved to London in 1984." As one of the co-founders, in 1970, of Hull Truck Theatre (formerly Hull Arts Centre), where this new production kicks off, Plater was an obvious choice to write a play chronicling the football club over 100 years through the recollections of one local family.

"The director, Gareth Tudor Price, initially asked me to revive my Seventies play The Tigers Are Coming - OK? about the football club," says Plater. "I said, 'No, that would be a bit old-fashioned. I don't think it would stand up terribly well and I don't even have a copy. If there is one, it will be in my archive at Hull University. So why don't I write you a new one?' "

Plater's last Hull Truck commission was 1990's Sweet Sorrow, about the Hull-based poet Philip Larkin. His new play is, he says, "about the meaning of being a supporter. It looks at the inheritance factor involved in supporting an underachieving football team. We're not talking about Arsenal or Manchester United. We are talking about a lesser team - what I call grass-roots football." But, he claims, this is not just a play for footie fans. "It will also be a richly educational experience for someone who has no interest in football at all," he promises.

The play is "a free-form drama" featuring three actors. It explores themes of family, the city, the community and football. "The great thing about theatre is that you can move freely in time and space," says Plater. "The audience brings its imagination. The main character in the play, Bill, plays himself in the present, but also converses with earlier generations in the past. The other two actors play four generations of men and women. They have some hard work to do."

There will also be a couple of screens showing photographs of famous matches and stills of the Hull City team over the years. "The play is a combination of public and personal history," says Plater. "I hope that it is a rich tapestry - that makes it sound fanciful and arty-farty, but it's not. The set will be basic, because Hull Truck is not the National Theatre and we don't have their sort of budget. But what we do have is plenty of imagination."

'Confessions of a City Supporter', Hull Truck Theatre, Spring Street, Hull (01482 323638) 16 September to 9 October