Last Goal Wins review: Identity, ambition and football collide in a hugely promising first fixture
- London Theatre Doc
- 8 hours ago
- 4 min read
★★★★
The Ryan Calais Cameron Season at Broadway Theatre in Catford opens with a play that understands football is never just football. Last Goal Wins, written by Justice Ezi and directed by Kalungi Ssebandeke, takes the pressure cooker world of international football and uses it to ask much bigger questions about ambition, heritage, representation and the price of success.
At the heart of the play are Victory Chukuemeka and Youssef Ngozi Chebbak, two friends and footballers fighting for their place in the Nigerian national team ahead of the World Cup. For Victory, this opportunity feels like the final shot of a career that has not quite given him everything he hoped for. For Youssef, whose Moroccan-Nigerian identity shapes the way others see him and the way he sees himself, selection carries a more complicated emotional weight. When Michael D’Arcy, a white player with Nigerian roots, enters the race, the competition is no longer just about footballing ability. Suddenly, selection becomes less about form and more about who is allowed to claim the badge.
That is where Last Goal Wins is at its most interesting. A national team is not simply a group of players on a pitch. It is pride, politics, family expectation, public scrutiny and, increasingly, money. Ezi’s play finds tension in the messy space between personal ambition and national image. The characters all want to win, but the play is more concerned with what they might have to sacrifice in order to do so.
There is a sharpness to the writing that makes the piece immediately enjoyable. The dialogue has pace, wit and a strong sense of rhythm, with the comedy often landing through quick exchanges and beautifully observed shifts in ego. The use of Pidgin English gives the play an added texture and musicality, helping to create a world that feels specific and lived in rather than generic. It also allows the humour to sit naturally within the relationships, particularly in the moments of teasing, rivalry and male bravado.
Benjamin Akintuyosi is a real highlight as Victory. He brings charisma and comic bite to the role, but also lets us see the fear underneath the confidence. Victory is funny because he is bold, sharp and often ridiculous, but he is also moving because we understand how much this chance matters to him. There is something quietly painful about watching a player who knows time is running out while still trying to convince everyone, including himself, that he is inevitable.
Alexander Lobo Moreno gives Youssef a thoughtful presence, capturing the discomfort of someone whose identity is constantly being measured by other people. Cameron Forrest as Michael could easily have become a simple disruption, but the production allows his presence to feel more layered. He is both rival and symbol, a player whose arrival forces everyone else to expose what they really believe. Jerome Ngonadi and Kossim Osseni add strong support as the figures around the team, bringing out the pressures of management, sponsorship and success at any cost.
The production works well in the intimacy of the Broadway Studio. Joshua Omotosho’s set is stripped back, but that simplicity is a strength. It keeps the focus on the bodies, the language and the shifting power in the room. There is no need for spectacle when the central conflict is already so charged. The movement, directed by Gabrielle Nimo, gives the piece its footballing pulse. The players stretch, jostle, train and circle one another with the easy physicality of men used to competing, bonding and bruising in the same breath.
What I particularly liked is that the play does not flatten its argument. It would be easy to turn this into a simple debate with obvious winners and losers, but Last Goal Wins is more slippery than that. Victory’s pride is understandable. Youssef’s position is compelling. Michael’s presence is provocative. The management’s hunger for success is uncomfortable, but not unbelievable. Everyone is chasing something, and almost everyone has a point.
Its only real limitation is that it occasionally feels constrained by its own running time. At around 75 minutes, it is fast and engaging, but there are moments where the story feels as though it has another half in it. The questions around corporate influence, national image and moral compromise are fascinating, and I would have happily watched them develop further. The final whistle arrives a little sooner than I wanted.
But that is also part of the compliment. Last Goal Wins leaves you wanting more because its world feels rich enough to sustain it. It has wit, pace and purpose, and it gives its cast plenty to play with. As the first production in the Ryan Calais Cameron Season, it is an exciting statement of intent from Broadway Theatre: local, ambitious and full of new voices demanding to be heard.
This is a smart, funny and purposeful new play that tackles big questions without losing its sense of entertainment. It does not convert every chance, but it has confidence, wit and a clear sense of purpose. For Broadway Theatre’s Ryan Calais Cameron Season, this is a strong opening goal.
Comments