WCXX

In the first scene Jason, who is white (Russell Tovey) and Ade who's black (Gary Carr) are sharing a room before their first-team debut with an unnamed club. Both are 17 and know that only one of them is likely to be kept on the side, depending on who plays best. Both are jittery with nervous tension. There's a lot of testosterone sloshing around and a good deal of joshing, much of it near the knuckle, especially when Jason smears his face with Nutella and pretends to be Nigerian. Voyeurs will be pleased to learn that these two outstanding actors both look exceptionally buff in their underpants. Suddenly however the horseplay takes on a sexual tinge and, more surprisingly, an unexpected tenderness.

In the second scene we discover that Jason, now 23, has made it to the top and Ade failed to make the grade. Jason is now married with a son but that doesn't stop him bringing a table dancer up to his room for sex. And in the last scene Jason and Ade, both now 29, meet again for the first time in 12 years, the one now famous, the other a plumber.

There are a lot of jolting surprises in the course of the play and passages when it grips like a psychological thriller. Even more startling for me was the fact that as Jason talks about his career and the pressures of the game, I found that I was becoming genuinely interested in football talk.

That fine director John Tiffany steers a superbly acted production with the confidence of a man who knows he is on to a winner, and there are sleek, swish designs by Laura Hopkins.

Russell Tovey brings wit, a sharp intelligence, and more than a hint of driven darkness to the role of Jason, and Gary Carr is both funny and touching as his rival and friend. There is outstanding work too from Lisa McGrillis as the table dancer, who is hugely offended when described as a stripper, and Nico Mirallegro as a richly comic hotel bellhop.

After watching this funny, sad and absorbing play I might even be tempted to watch Match of the Day.

Until March 1. Tickets 020 7565 5000; royalcourttheatre.com