| Language | English |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Director | Horace Ové |
| Genre | Comedy |
| Starring | Norman Beaton Nicholas Farrell Robert Urquhart |
| Runtime | 100 minutes |
| Writer | Caryl Phillips |
| Released | 25 November 1986 |
| Producer | Vijay Amarnani |
Playing Away is a 1986 TV comedy film directed by Horace Ové, from a screenplay by Caryl Phillips.[1]
Premise
In the story, an English cricket team, fictitiously named "Sneddington" (based in Lavenham, Suffolk), invites a team of West Indian heritage based in Brixton (South London) to play a charity game in support of their "Third World Week." According to Screenonline, "The gentle comedy of manners and unexpected reversal of white and black stereotypes in Playing Away contrasts sharply with the stylistic experimentation and the militant denunciations of racial prejudice in director Horace Ové's earlier feature, Pressure (1975)."[2]
Reception
New York Times reviewer Vincent Canby called it "witty and wise without being seriously disturbing for a minute".[3]
Production
The cricket match scenes were filmed at Botany Bay Cricket Club in Enfield, London.[citation needed]
The film cost £924,000.[4]
Cast
- Norman Beaton
- Nicholas Farrell
- Brian Bovell
- Ross Kemp
- Gary Beadle
- Trevor Thomas
- Ram John Holder
- Bruce Purchase
- Joseph Marcell
- Patrick Holt
- Neil Morrissey
References
- ^ "Playing Away (1986)". TCM. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
- ^ Onyekachi Wambu, "Playing Away (1986)" Archived 23 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Screenonline, BFI.
- ^ Vincent Canby, "Playing Away (1986)", The New York Times, 13 March 1987.
- ^ "Back to the Future: The Fall and Rise of the British Film Industry in the 1980s - An Information Briefing". British Film Institute. 2005. p. 27. Archived from the original on 12 September 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2020.