"Dyslexia Untied are recruitin’! 
So get your kit bag, shin pads and put your mingin’ boots in."

Birmingham. 0121.
When glory strikes for Dyslexia Untied FC.. things for Keiron start to take a turn.
With music inspired by old-school garage, 'HAND OF GOD' follows the passionate footballing wonder-kid Kieron who, devoted on winning, winds up captaining the local drug dealers 5-aside team.

Will he finally get the glory he’s been craving, or will everything get too much? Drugs and raving, pride and unbelievable tekkers fight for centre stage. 'HAND OF GOD' asks the question ‘Can football get men talking about mental health?' 

TECTUM Theatre & Brutal Snake Productions are proud to present the raucous, electric world-premiere of Hand Of God.

Written and performed by Sam Butters
Produced by Danielle J Gearing
Lyrics and Direction by Charlie Derrar and Joseph Siddle
Music by Charlie O’Connor

TECTUM Theatre was founded to support, showcase and celebrate working class talent. Founded in 2020, 'HAND OF GOD' will be TECTUM Theatre's debut production.

Brutal Snake Productions is an emerging production house run by Charlie Derrar & Joseph Siddle. Their most recent work ‘CONCRETE CAMPFIRES’ is work from up and going musicians, spoken word artists and poets.

MEET THE TEAM

Sam Butters - Actor and Writer
Sam is a proud Brummie and graduated from ArtsEd’s BA Acting course. He has trained in both Acting and Musical Theatre. His most recent credits include; Fin in ‘Saving Rachel’, a new play written and directed by Rikki Beadle-Blair, Toby in 'Boys Who Cry' at the Birmingham Rep, Kane in Sky Arts' short 'Sent To Cov', and Dave in 'In My Skin' at the Mac, Birmingham. Sam is also the founder of TECTUM Theatre company, a company that strives to get regional voices heard. 'Hand of God' is his writing debut, and he is very excited to be sharing it with the people of London.

Danielle J Gearing - Producer
Danielle is an emerging theatre and digital arts producer who is originally from Birmingham. She is the co-founder of Powerhouse, and her previous producing work includes 'Marilyn' a one-woman show that toured to 11 venues around the country in 2019, 'White Noise' a zoom play that was streamed live to people all over the world and is currently set to produce a show that's going to Edinburgh this year. As a working-class woman, Danielle has a passion for platforming underrepresented communities and their stories. Danielle is very excited to be a part of the 'Hand Of God' team and be producing a show that is all about working-class culture at its core.

Charlie Derrar - Director and Lyricist
Charlie Derrar is an actor, writer, director, rapper, and poet from a mixed-race and regional background. Charlie’s a co-founder of Brutal Snake Productions who are using their own hybrid theatre technique to modernise the stage. As a rapper and poet, Charlie has performed around the country as Berrar Darker, also recording in Dean Street Studios alongside Pixel Punk revolutionaries Lick Drop. Some of his previous credits include; Anubis in The Great Barbeque (Theatre Peckham), Tybalt & Friar Lawrence in Romeo & Juliet (UK Tour), director of Clockwork (Adaptation of Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange), and assistant director of Divine (by Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu). Charlie is thrilled to be working with TECTUM on this show and to be collaborating with his directing partner, Joe, to bring 'Hand of God' to life.

Joseph Siddle - Director and Lyricist
Joseph Siddle is an Actor, Writer and Director. As co-founder of Brutal Snake Productions, Joseph seeks out innovation and has coined the terms ‘hybrid theatre’ and 'Pixel Punk'. Joseph directs musical pioneers Lick Drop out of Dean Street Studios, binging their sonic experience to UK and international stages alike. Joseph has worked with institutions such as The BBC, The Imaginarium, and Angel Comedy. Joseph is looking forward to sharing the directing experience for this show with Charlie and utilising his lyrical expertise to assist in the musical aspects of 'Hand of God'.

Charlie O'Connor - Composer
Charlie is an Actor and Composer who graduated from Arts Ed in 2020. His most notable credits include; Christian in the award-winning short film ‘Play it Safe’ and Isaac in the new-writing piece 'Saving Rachel' written and directed by Rikki Beadle-Blair. 'Hand of God' will be Charlie's composing debut and he is delighted to be creating the score for this important piece.

CREATORS STATMENT

Hand of God came about from my own personal experience of growing up and seeing far too many people from my childhood suffer through lack of communication and with the rates of men’s suicide from a direct cause of poor mental health rapidly increasing Hand Of God is an attempt to break down those barriers in a way that’s relatable to those men.
We need more stories about regional towns, Especially in London, from the authentic voices are from those areas. 
We want Hand of God to get people through those theatre doors, even if you've never been to the theatre before. We want to use this play to kick start these important conversations and empower people to start communicating the things they're not saying. 
Most of all, we want people to come out of Hand of God feeling like they have had a really good night out, we want people to come out feeling like they’ve been raving under the arches of Birmingham. It’s loud, electric, and unapologetically Brummie.

DIRECTORS STATEMENT

As a directing duo, we were initially drawn to the project because of the dynamic nature of the play’s form, subject matter, and use of music within the piece.
We feel like, at its core, this is a piece about working-class culture; the sense of community that football can bring in this environment and the unique comradery between friends down the pub after a game but also the toxic environment that can be built from being told to put on a 'brave face' and get on with it. We want to celebrate and challenge the good and bad sides of this culture and great space for important discussions that need to take place afterward. 
We believe that theatre has the power to create sacred and communal spaces that can heal our communities through the power of storytelling. We hope that this play will break down barriers, open hearts, and leave our audience with the language to go forward and continue an honest and open dialogue around mental health. Hand of God is loud, it's bold, it's in your face and it's unashamedly working class.