A Tribute to an Inspirational Man
Dougie Blaxland’s Our Little Hour tells the overdue tale of Walter Tull who achieved so much in the world of football before proving himself a hero on the WW1 battlefield, yet very few people have ever heard of him, writes Michael Holland.
And that’s because Walter was black.
Born in Folkestone in the late 19th century to a Barbadian father and English mother, the boy already had a struggle ahead. Along with his brother Edward they would be racially abused by adults if they tried to play football in the street. But they were expected to tolerate the abuse; their father drummed endless bible phrases into them as their only protection from the racists.
The narrative speeds through four more births, two funerals and a wedding before the church brings malicious rumours to the door and takes the two boys off to an orphanage in London where no one wanted to adopt black kids. For years the brothers suffered in silence as the white children went off to new homes.
In the little spare time Walter had from the drudgery of the orphanage he would practise his footballing skills and eventually got picked for local amateur side Clapton where he won several medals and was spotted and signed by Tottenham Hotspur. Alas, the racist abuse he received from home and away fans and his own management saw him dropped to the reserves. He was rescued by a move to Northampton where he got regular first team play.
When the war came in 1914 Walter was the first player to sign up. He was quickly promoted through the ranks but that was where he faced the class divide as well as the colour barrier. The officers didn’t want the likes of Tull on their level yet he rose to become 2nd Lieutenant despite the ‘1914 Manual of Military Law excluded soldiers ‘that were not natural born or naturalised British subjects of pure European descent from becoming commissioned officers’.
Nevertheless, after showing ‘gallantry and coolness’ when leading his men on a night raid he was put forward for the Military Cross. That recommendation, alas, was never actioned and Walter Tull died in those French trenches when he should have already had that medal pinned to his chest.
Our Little Hour was nobly commissioned by Show Racism the Red Card but then evidently underfunded by the Arts Council, because Leon Newman, Susie Broadbent and Neil Reidman had to play everyone in Walter’s life with just a switch of accents, a donning of a cap or a doffing of a coat. The audience had to be colour blind and gender blind as the intrepid trio expertly mixed roles under gunfire and prayer when this story needed a full cast and a big theatre to give it what it deserves. Even so, Blaxland and Chris Anthony (Music) and Live Wire Theatre have done well with the little they had to work with.
Ms Broadbent added some much needed comedy with her comic cockney, while Reidman’s jump from Bethnal Green to Bajan didn’t need that much of a leap of faith. Leon Newman played Tull with a serene dignity.
There were songs with a simple piano accompaniment that I thought didn’t help in the moments of sadness – And there was plenty of sorrow in this story! It needed soaring violins to pull at the heartstrings, but the music evoked no emotions for me.
Walter Tull’s tale needs a BBC three-parter, as this seemed to be rushed – The family jumped from two kids to six in one sentence! And just like TV brought the Post Office scandal to the fore, so TV can push forward the campaign for the hero to receive a statue in his honour and the Military Cross he bravely earned. Hopefully, this production helps this aims along.
After the performance, Ledley King, the black Spurs and England legend, came on stage to discuss racism in football now, his own experience and to answer questions. It was a fitting end to this fine tribute in Black History Month.
The tour of Our Little Hour continues until November 2 and can be seen at New Theatre Portsmouth 24th October, Derby Theatre 26th October, South Street Arts Reading 29th October, Theatre Royal Wakefield 30th October, Royal & Derngate Northampton 31st October to 2nd November.
