John Godber was still a drama teacher when he became artistic director of an impoverished theatre company in Hull 20 years ago. Inspired by the Rocky films and the greater popularity of rugby league than theatre in the city, he came up with a rough ballad drama about an equally impoverished pub team taking on elite rivals and almost winning.
So much is familiar. What is striking in this anniversary revival is how much the play is also, obliquely, about another event of 20 years ago: the miners' strike.
Up 'n' Under is not like Rocky because the team loses in the end. More importantly, the play celebrates collective, not individual, strength and the dignity and meaning it gives even to those who lose.
Arthur has alienated his whole team by revealing that he is coaching them so intensively only because he has gambled his house on a match (in which they are likely to be badly hurt) in pursuit of a personal grudge. He sits alone, head covered, in silent misery. Their eventual return, with a gruff commitment to carry on if they can share any winnings, is all the more moving because the sentiment is roughly undercut - a Godber trademark.
References to Jonny Wilkinson and the slag heap made into a ski slope in Castleford gently update the play. The new line "Me and my fucking mouth" provokes a little gasp from some of the audience. The other echo of 1984, a woman broadening the men's horizons, is more easily taken for granted now, and younger members of the audience respond happily to the play's rough magic.
Godber's production is mostly well-drilled, heartfelt, brilliantly knowing in its parodies and often squealingly funny. But it celebrates a poignant if glorious past and leaves the future an open question.
· Until July 31. Box office: 01482 323638.
