Drama, incident and emotion. Get ready for Stand or Fall

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Drama, incident and emotion. Get ready for Stand or Fall – the play

The production is a must watch for Albion fans and runs at Brighton's Theatre Royal later this month.

Nick Szczepanik

2026-09-07T10:00+01:00

Mark Brailsford, left, and the cast of Stand or Fall, which plays at the Theatre Royal between 23-26 September. 📷James Boardman

The extended international break that begins later this month means that Albion will not be in Premier League action between the 125th anniversary match at home to Arsenal on September 19 and the trip to Sunderland on Saturday 10 October.

But fans do not have to miss out on the drama, incident and emotion that we all associate with our football club. Into the breach comes Stand Or Fall – The Play, celebrating 125 years of the Albion, at the Theatre Royal from Wednesday 23 September to Saturday 26 September.

This retelling of recent Albion history, from the last game at the Goldstone to the present day, is the brainchild of talented local actor and director Mark Brailsford and is being produced by Ian Hart.

Mark’s background in his long-running satirical revue, The Treason Show, guarantees laughs, and his work with the Brighton Shakespeare Company ensures that the dramatic content will be of the highest quality. And a top cast includes former EastEnders star Paul Moriarty.

Harty, of course, is well known to Albion fans as the former editor of the groundbreaking Gulls’ Eye fanzine, going on to become a broadcaster, journalist and author, recently publishing a well-received and revealing memoir, Brighton & Hove Albion From Every Angle.

But it is his day job as a successful funeral director that has enabled him to support this project, which has proved to be a considerable step beyond his usual expertise.

“Every day is a school day when you become a theatre producer at 62,” he said. “I've learnt one lesson already: people don't buy tickets during heatwaves. With luck it’ll be cooler by opening night!

“I've known Mark Brailsford for a long time. And I don't want to go into cliches, but it's not what you take out of life, it's what you put in. And Mark is very, very talented, and I'm hoping something like this will give him the recognition he so richly deserves.

“Enough people have given me breaks, enough people have given me leg-ups. It's even better giving a leg-up to someone that you actually like and who shares the same passions as you: football and comedy and life.

Producer Ian Hart outside Brighton's Theatre Royal, where Stand or Fall will be stages later this month. 📷James Boardman

“So when this opportunity was presented to me to say, ‘Would you be prepared to invest XYZ and become a producer?’ there was no debate; I was going to do it. I'm lucky enough, I've worked hard enough, and I'm in a position at my time of life where I've got a little bit of disposable income, and I can do it. And I feel that I'm helping someone who's really talented.”

A fan of live theatre, Ian has enjoyed peering behind the scenes. “It has been a real eye-opener, because we're all frustrated performers, we all perform to a degree, whether it's on a phone-in or whatever. And it's been so fascinating, because I've been going to live theatre as long as I've been going to the Albion, be that am-dram or professional theatre.

“We had a press day the other week, and I was just standing on the stage at the Theatre Royal, which is such a special venue, and looking out into all those seats, and thinking of all the shows that I've seen there, from Harry Hill to Les Miserables and various pantos.

“And to actually – pardon the pun – pull back the curtain and see what the nuts and bolts are, and how the figures add up is a fascinating thing. I’m even really enjoying the marketing stage now.”

Albion fans are, of course, his target audience, and he was spreading the word at the Tromso game. “These last four or five weeks, that is the key to getting the message out there. It was almost like selling the fanzine again at the Tromso game.

“And people were coming up, saying, ‘What's this? I've seen your name on a poster. What's it all about?’ I said, ‘It's not the film. It is a stage show about the Albion written by a very talented performer who's a Brighton fanatic. And so it's well worth going to.’

“And I do think it's a bad old world out there at the moment. Everywhere you look, it's bad news. We all need to have a smile on our faces. What better antidote than a night out at the theatre, watching a play with a very positive slant and putting a smile on your face?

“We can never go back to those days where you and I used to talk on the corner by the church where we sold Gulls’ Eye. But that doesn't mean we can look back on them with affection. There were bad times, but there were more good times.

“And as I've said before, the Albion is an extended family. We've all become friends when if it wasn't for football, we'd have never met. A young lad came and wanted to help sell my fanzines, and then all these years later, he's ended up running the Albion media department and runs it very well.

“The script is very funny. The cast is predominantly a young cast. But to meet Paul Moriarty, a man who snogged Barbara Windsor on screen, it was like shaking Sinatra's hand in Vegas, wasn't it? I'm shaking the hand of the man who's cuddled Barbara Windsor. My life is complete.”

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