Capturing the energy and emotion of an unlikely sporting victory, Irish playwright John Breen’s Alone It Stands lets its audience share in the collective amazement that enveloped Limerick’s Thomond Park in October 1978 when Munster, an outfit of local rugby players, beat the New Zealand All Blacks, the greatest team of the era.

Ensemble Theatre’s Alone It Stands. Photo © Prudence Upton

Breen’s highly physical account of the game employs a tightly drilled company of six to play both teams. Not only do the company members have to turn on a dime, they have to do it repeatedly. From the slow-building, semi-whispered haka that opens the play, Alone It Stands paints a warmly humorous picture of a pre-Celtic Tiger Ireland and a sporting culture now a thing of the past – sacrificed to the gods of professionalism and commerce.

Director Janine Watson (aided by fight choreographer Tim Dashwood) has created a fast-flowing and inventive choreography for the show, recreating key moments in the game (with hilarious insights into the shenanigans that take place in the ruck), as well as cutaways to the crowd, the radio commentary box, the car park,...