Poland 3 Iran 2

Written by Alistair Coats | 27 August 2010

If you are concerned that this might be a show entirely about one single football match, don’t be. Poland 3 Iran 2 is also a story of political revolution, war, train sets, Subbuteo and chess, as Chris Dobrowolski and Mehrdad Seyf explain how they came to be watching the 1976 Montreal Olympics match between Poland and Iran. There are some emotional moments and occasional laughs, particularly when close-ups of a 1976 sticker album reveal just how inaccurate British publications could be with Iranian and Polish names. 

Dobrowolski’s tale tells of his Polish family’s experience of the war, and how he came to be born in Essex, while Seyf’s explains the political changes that affected his father living in Iran. Both are educational and interesting, as well as balancing concerns about growing up that each boy had with the far more real problems that their parents suffered.

However, the show mixes so many ideas that the purpose becomes a little confusing, and the 1976 game is more of a backdrop to their whole lives – the event that unites them – as the story continues into the 21st century, right up to Iran’s recent election. An anecdote from Dobrowolski at the end gives the show a tidy emotional close but one that the audience is not really prepared for.

Pleasance @ Thistle St Bar, 4-28 Aug (not 9, 10, 16, 23), 5pm