John Bevan: Team Player – from Lions to League
by Mari Lloyd
World Premiere produced by Still Here Productions in association with 20 South Street
Directed by Julia Stubbs
55 years ago, the British Lions rugby team, with 13 Welsh players, defeated the mighty All Blacks in a Test series. Something that has never been repeated.
At 20 years of age, John Bevan was part of that. Two years later, he switched codes to play rugby league not knowing if this would bring success or ruin his dream of a life in rugby.
Because in the 1970s, there was no way back.
Julia Stubbs reunites with playwright Mari Lloyd for her new solo play exploring the triumphs and challenges of three years in the sporting career of Welsh rugby player John Bevan, as it chronicles the British Lions tour in Australia and New Zealand in 1971 and the period which followed in 1973, when John left the success of his rugby union roots to “go north” to play rugby league for Warrington.
Autumn Tour
October 2026
Following the success of its World Premiere Tour in July and with the generous support of S.J.M. Concerts, John Bevan: Team Player – from Lions to League will now tour to five rugby clubs this October.
8 October, 7:00pm | 11 October, 3:00pm
Birkenhead Park RFC – Pursglove Suite at The Upper Park, 141 Birkenhead Park, Park Road North, Birkenhead, CH41 8AA
9 October, 7:00pm
Wigan Warriors – Tomaco Lounge at The Brick Community Stadium, Loire Drive, Wigan WN5 0UH
12 October, 7:00pm
Hull Kingston Rovers – Legends Lounge at Craven Park, Preston Road, Hull, HU9 5HE
17 October, 7:00pm
Leeds Rhinos – Lewis Jones Room at AMT Headingley Rugby Stadium, St Michael’s Lane, Headingley, Leeds, LS6 3BR
29 October, 7:00pm
London Welsh RFC – Pagoda Room, Old Deer Park, Richmond, TW9 2AZ
“Having watched the play in Warrington, I was delighted to help get it more widely seen.
The story of John is told brilliantly; I’ve been a fan of John since the first game I watched Warrington at Wembley in 1975.”
Simon Moran
S.J.M. Concerts
Cast
Scott Gutteridge as John Bevan.
Creative Team
Director: Julia Stubbs | Set Designer: Willoughby Brow | Lighting Designer: Jonathan Samuels | Sound Designer: Jamie Lu | PR & Photography by Grey Swan | Produced by Still Here Productions, supported by S.J.M. Concerts, and in association with 20 South & Grey Swan.
Content information: brief strong language; references to isolation and loneliness | Suitable for Adults, 12+
Running time: 95 minutes plus interval.
The playtext for John Bevan: Team Player – from Lions to League was published for its premiere by Grey Swan Press and can be purchased here
The online programme can be viewed here
World Premiere Tour
July 2026
It’s 1971.
Margaret Thatcher becomes known as the ‘Milk Snatcher’.
‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ is nominated for 10 BAFTAs…
And the British Lions with 13 Welsh players do something that has never been done before… and never repeated since. They defeat the mighty All Blacks on their own turf in New Zealand.
Imagine, like John Bevan, that you are 20 years old, and part of that phenomenal success. How does that feel? And what happens afterwards?
Within two years John Bevan leaves Union for League and a new life. What is he searching for? And will he find it?
Could ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ inspire change? Or is this the end of a dream.
The World Premiere of John Bevan: Team Player – from Lions to League took place in July 2026 with a tour to venues in Monmouth, Pontypool, Tylorstown, and Abergavenny, South Wales, followed by performances in Warrington, England.
The South Wales tour of JOHN BEVAN: TEAM PLAYER – FROM LIONS TO LEAGUE is supported in three venues, Cwmavon Village Hall, Tylorstown Welfare Hall and Melville Centre for the Arts, by the Arts Council of Wales Night Out scheme.
The scheme works with communities around Wales to bring performing arts to local halls and community venues.
Since 1980, Night Out has worked with a network of voluntary promoters to bring over 14,000 shows into local spaces. Shows are hosted by volunteers from community groups who want to bring live arts into their local venues. Community groups (known as ‘Promoters’) can choose from a huge range of great professional performers and put them on in local spaces and other non-traditional venues across the country. Around 500 shows are booked through the scheme each year, by over 300 different promoters.
Thank you, Night Out, for your support in bringing this new play to South Wales!
Reviews & Press
“This powerful one-man play brought memories flooding back of John Bevan, a true sporting icon—and for me, a look back at my own school days under a man who was a class act both on the pitch and in the classroom.
As a youngster standing on the Fletcher End at Wilderspool, cheering on the Wire, I never imagined that years later I would be sitting in the Halliwell Jones Stadium reviewing a play about my former RE and PE teacher, John Bevan.
Written by Welsh playwright Mari Lloyd, Bevan’s sister-in-law, this gripping monologue covers three life-changing years of the 1970s. It brilliantly captures the immense pressure and pride of a young man transitioning from the amateur, triumphant glory of the 1971 British & Irish Lions tour of New Zealand into the unforgiving, professional world of Rugby League.
For those of us who remember the hostility aimed at Welsh stars who chose to “go north” to become codebreakers, the emotional weight of this play hits incredibly hard.”
“Actor Scott Gutteridge (RADA, RSC, Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast) delivers an absolutely stellar, powerhouse performance. To hold an audience captivated for a full-length monologue is no easy feat, but Gutteridge commands the stage with the same explosive presence that Bevan used to command the wing. Directed seamlessly by Julia Stubbs, the production balances raw athletic intensity with deeply personal, vulnerable reflections.”
“Watching the play at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, as our town celebrates its rich 150 years of rugby heritage, was incredibly moving. Having my own personal connection to John from my time at school made it even more poignant. To me, he was always a larger-than-life figure who commanded respect, but this production peels back the layers of the legend to show the human being behind the headlines with his famous try scorer salute. This is a magnificent piece of theatre. It is an absolute must-watch for any Wire fan, rugby enthusiast, or anyone who loves a deeply human story of courage, change, and community.”
Warrington Worldwide
The Edit
New Play Explores the Untold Story of Welsh Rugby Legend John Bevan
Read the preview article here
Nation Cymru
New play charts Welsh rugby legend John Bevan’s journey from Lions glory to league switch
Read the preview article here
Chepstow Beacon
John Bevan’s rugby journey: from Welsh Lions to Warrington league
Read the preview article here
Warrington Guardian
Drama about Wire legend John Bevan to be performed next month
Read the preview article here
Abergavenny Chronicle
Play depicting the life of Welsh rugby legend heads to Abergavenny and Monmouth
Read the preview article here
Writing the play
by Mari Lloyd
I hadn’t intended to write a play about rugby or a rugby player, although my previous play Still Here had been set in and around a boxing gym. Maybe I was in a sporting mindset.
I knew that back home in Wales, there’s still huge interest and nostalgia for the rugby of the 1970s. Wales won the Grand Slam, and the British Lions were triumphant on tour in New Zealand. Come on! A golden time, right? …. Maybe. The stresses and strains, both physical and mental, associated with top-class sports have had more exposure recently, but the picture of rugby in the 1970s is painted as something pure and rather wonderful. But what was it really like?
I was lucky that I was able to interview John Bevan and hear about him playing for Wales, the Lions and the Barbarians before he made the difficult decision to ‘go North’ and play Rugby League. Something shocking at the time. JB felt that rugby as a game had saved him. And going North made him grow up. He had to change from the kid from the Rhondda who always had to win to being a team player in another country. What does that look like as a story?
Researching my boxing play, I was fascinated by the role of sport and sporting clubs in fostering a sense of identity, belonging and community. And at the end of the day, maybe that’s what we’re all looking for. I haven’t joined a rugby team, but I still go regularly to my boxing gym.
Creating the play
Thoughts from director Julia Stubbs and playwright Mari Lloyd
Based on extensive interviews with Bevan himself, conducted by playwright Mari Lloyd, John Bevan: Team Player – from Lions to League is a drama rooted in lived experience rather than retrospective myth.
Although set between 1971 and 1974, the play is not a reflective or end-of-life account. Bevan is aged between 20 and 23 during the events of the play, and the story unfolds in the present tense, following a young man at the very start of his career as he navigates ambition, expectation and pressure.
Opening in 1974 as Bevan prepares to leave on tour, the play moves back to trace the journey that brought him there, inviting audiences to experience events as they happen rather than through hindsight. While grounded in specific moments in sporting history, the challenges Bevan faces resonate strongly with young people today.
Read this 2023 interview with John Bevan in Nation Cymru
John Bevan
John Bevan is among fewer than twenty Welshmen who scored more than 200 tries in their rugby league career.
Starting his career in rugby union, he played for the Cardiff club and, after being capped for Wales in 1971, John toured Australia and New Zealand with the British Lions. He played in 14 matches, including the first test and scored a total of 18 tries. The 17 scored in New Zealand equalled the record of Tony O’Reilly. He was a speedy wing (number 11) from Tylorstown, South Wales and was also immensely strong. His powerful bullocking running style was all the more appropriate as he shared the initials JCB with a renowned British manufacturer of bulldozers. He is chiefly remembered for his role in the Barbarians’ victory over New Zealand in 1973, during which he scored a try. During his short international career, John scored 5 tries for Wales.
In September 1973, John switched to rugby league and joined Warrington for a then-massive signing-on fee. He made 332 appearances for the Warrington club, in which he scored 201 tries, usually on the wing. He also played for Wales and Great Britain. After 13 seasons, he retired from the professional game. His Testimonial match at Warrington took place in 1983. John was also the first rugby league player to achieve the Senior RFU Coaching Award in England.
In September 2000, after serving for three years as Director of Coaching for the Welsh Rugby Union, John joined the teaching staff at Monmouth School as a teacher of Religious Education and Director of Rugby Coaching. He retired as Head of Rugby and a boarding master in 2016.
His catchphrase of “my granny could do better than that”, meaning anything from tackle to run, is perhaps a reason he remains a rugby legend and an inspiration to the boys.
Mari Lloyd
Playwright
Mari Lloyd grew up in the Rhondda Valley and still has family living there. She now lives in Merseyside, and after working in the NHS for over 20 years, she began writing.
Her debut full-length play, Still Here, produced by 20 South Street and Still Here Productions and directed by Julia Stubbs, premiered on the London fringe in March 2023 and was celebrated by critics and audiences, with an award nomination for its two young Welsh actors. It was revived in 2025, touring South Wales, London and Liverpool to further acclaim, being named by The Edit as one of ‘The Top 20 Shows We Saw Across Wales’ in 2025.
Mari’s short plays include Evidence for Little Pieces of Gold at Southwark Playhouse and Lantern Writers Showcase Boss Plays 5, Charity as part of Theatre for Snapshots by LEMAD Theatre at Rosemary Branch Theatre, What Friends Are For as part of Love Lies by LEMAD Theatre at Hope Theatre, and High Tea as part of The Directors’ showcase at Questors Theatre.
Her one-act plays include The Match for Liverpool Write Now Festival at the Lantern Theatre, Last Tango at St. Leonards for Liverpool Write Now Festival at Unity Theatre, Three Women at Manchester 24:7 Festival, Bread and Circuses at Lantern Theatre, Looking Out for Jack part of Lantern Writers Showcase and longlisted for the Papatango New Writing Prize, and Elegy for Liverpool Scriptshop at Liverpool Fringe Festival.
Mari stays grounded and sane by engaging with a local boxing gym.
In summer 2025, as part of the play’s continuing development, we partnered with The Blake Theatre in Monmouth and Warrington Wolves Rugby Football Club to present two work-in-progress readings, followed by post-show Q&As, to invited audiences of rugby players and members of the local communities. Their feedback helped take the play to its next stage and towards production.
Reading 1: Monday 30 June at 7 pm – The Blake Theatre, Monmouth
Reading 2: Wednesday 2 July at 6 pm – Warrington Wolves Stadium
Creative Team for the readings
Scott Gutteridge as John Bevan
Director: Julia Stubbs | Photography: Grey Swan | Produced by Still Here Productions in association with 20 South Street.
Rehearsed Reading Venue Feedback
“On Monday evening, we were proud to host a work-in-progress reading of ‘John Bevan: Team Player’, a powerful new play by Mari Lloyd, exploring the life of former British Lions rugby player and much-loved Haberdashers’ Monmouth School Coach, former Housemaster and Teacher, John Bevan.
The play follows three defining years in John’s sporting career, from the heady heights of the 1971 Lions tour to New Zealand to the personal and professional challenges that followed. Vividly portayed by Scott Gutteridge as John Bevan, and directed by Julia Stubbs, this intimate reading brought history, humaity, and heat to the stage, with plenty of humour too! We were honoured to welcome John Bevan himself, who joined the post-show panel alongsode the actor, playwright, and director for an honest, moving and insightful Q&A.
At The Blake Theatre, we are proud to support new writing and meaningful storytelling. Events like this not only celebrate Welsh heritage but also strengthen our commitment to the arts as a vital part of community life – connecting people through shared stories, history, and hope. Thank you to everyone who joined us for this special event – and to the creative team behind this powerful new work.”
Fiona Wilton – Theatre Manager, The Blake Theatre, Monmouth
Rehearsed Reading Audience Feedback
“Fascinating insight into the early career of Warrington Wolves legend and my former RE and PE teacher at Culcheth High School John Bevan, documented in a new play set to hit the stage next year.
Big thank you to Neil Kelly from The Warrington Wolves Foundation for hosting this superb taster event in front of a small audience.
It tells the story of Bev’s switch from Union to League and highlights the contrast between the two codes in the early 1970s.“
Gary Skeltenbery – Editor/Owner, Warrington Worldwide
I felt. I had a feeling. This would be my year.
In September 2024, as part of the play’s research & development period, we partnered with the Tylorstown Welfare Hall to present a work-in-progress reading, followed by a post-show Q&A, to an invited audience from the Rhondda Valley community.
Creative Team for the R&D
Phillip John Jones as John Bevan
Director: Julia Stubbs | Photography by Grey Swan | Produced by Still Here Productions in association with 20 South Street.
R&D Audience Feedback
Which part of the story did you enjoy the most?
“I thoroughly enjoyed every bit. Well written, giving a lot of personal insight into that period of John’s life.”
“John Bevan signing for Warrington and the circumstances that led to him going north.”
“I thought it was all very interesting. Loved hearing John’s perspective.”
“Enjoyed it from start to finish.”
Was the balance of the story about rugby and the person right for you?
“Yes! Thought balance was perfect.”
“The balance was right with a good amount of humour amongst the trials and tribulations of life.”
“Mari certainly did a fantastic job writing it, it was funny, sad, in parts spirited, it was an honest summary.”
Were you told anything that you didn’t already know?
“How isolated and young John felt. Away from home for such a long time.”
“I learned a lot about John; he is such a humble man.”
“Yes. It always appeared that participating in a rugby tour would be glamorous and very exciting. The reality very much came out in the presentation which was excellent.”
