Image: Joseph Priestley

As Bradford City prepares to commemorate the 30-year anniversary of a fire that killed 56 people, a young theatre company based in Yorkshire is re-telling the tragedy through the eyes of those who saw it. Joey O’Hagan spoke exclusively to the founder of that company, and the director of ‘The 56’, Matt Stevens-Woodhead.

For a director, it’s always a nervous experience to showcase your production for the first time to a large audience.

But never more so than for Matt Stevens-Woodhead, director of ‘The 56’, as he felt the pressure of re-telling the stories of the people who survived the Bradford City fire in a preview show watched by those survivors.

“That was pressure. It was a huge and poignant event. A lot of the audience came and they were quite nervous of what they were going to see. But we had a lot of nice comments afterwards”, explained Matt, describing the show as ‘nerve-wracking’.

As part of an intense research project that lasted over a year, Matt interviewed over 60 people face-to-face, such as John Hendrie, Sir Oliver Popplewell, Professor David Sharpe, and the families who lost loved ones in the fire – some of whom were present at the preview show. These stories were then recounted through the three characters on show.

Matt stated that of these survivors, one gentleman said that he could really start to remember what happened 30 years ago.

“I think it’s been really fabulous to give people the opportunity to take ownership over a memory that they didn’t feel they necessarily had the right to have”, Matt explained.

‘The 56’ was produced by FYSA, a Sheffield-based independent theatre company, set up by Matt and his friend Tom Lodge, both Sheffield University graduates, in 2012.

In March of last year, the theatre company attended the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough Memorial Service, and Matt explains how this memorial influenced them to produce a story about another disaster in football, one so many claim is the ‘forgotten disaster.’

Matt said that “there was a gentleman we started talking to at the service, who was stood above the paddock, helping to pull people over amidst the crush. He said that it was interesting that Hillsborough was getting so much attention from the media, whilst Bradford was getting very little out of its own area.”

From this, the theatre company went along to the 29th anniversary of the Bradford City fire, which took place at the Centenary Square in Bradford.

“We began to talk to people there about their experiences, and they wanted to pass on a story to a younger generation, as it’s not something that is widely discussed in Bradford, and the show really started to come together from there”, Matt explained.

As Matt prepares to lead a two month national tour of his production, that starts in Barnsley, goes via London, and ends up in Manchester, he described how ‘fantastic’ it is to be able to tell the story to a wider national audience, outside of Bradford.

He said “what this project is doing is taking the story and telling it from the fans perspective, and telling it from the people that were there on the day. There’s no spin on it all, and I think it’s important to commemorate their memories before they are lost.”

And although, this year commemorates the 30th anniversary of the fire, Matt believes that people should not fall into a trap of only remembering a big number.

“There’s a line in the show that says it doesn’t matter whether it’s the 28th, the 29th or the 30th anniversary. 30 is just another number. And whilst it’s important we commemorate a landmark in Bradford’s history, it’s important to remember that this is grief that people live with every day of their lives.”

All profits of the show will go to the Bradford Burns Unit, a world renowned burns research unit set up by Professor David Sharpe in the aftermath of the Bradford City fire.

FYSA have already donated over £1000 for the unit, and Matt says that it is a brilliant cause for the production to raise money and awareness for.

“It’s one of the few positive things that came out of the fire. We went to the burns unit to present our first cheque, and it was so fantastic to see what a great cause it is, and how close it is to Bradford’s heart even after 30 years.”

The cast will bring the show to the Alhambra in Bradford at the end of April for a three-day-event.

Joey O’Hagan