Latest news with #SeanTurner
The Guardian
02-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Why I Stuck a Flare Up My Arse for England review – when macho match-day exuberance goes viral
Football is coming home for Alex Hill's one-man play for a third and final season on the fringe and you can see why it has proved such a hit. The setting is the delayed Euro 2020 tournament, the one in which Gareth Southgate's England beat ancient rivals Germany, then Ukraine and Denmark before facing Italy at Wembley. For an obsessive fan such as Billy Kinley, someone who lives for football and its attendant culture of booze and thuggery, it is an excitement almost too great to bear. That is as close a reason as he can come up with for pulling down his shorts and shoving a flare between his bum cheeks on match day. It is an act of exuberance that turns him into a viral sensation. It also gives him cause to wonder how his life has reached such a place, especially now he has been abandoned by his childhood pal Adam and dumped by his previously tolerant girlfriend. If he knew the phrase toxic masculinity, he would have to use it; a once sweet-natured boy, he has traded his old stability for the camaraderie of the terraces and the excesses of drugs and violence. The flare is his way of belonging. Under the direction of Sean Turner, Hill plays Billy with gusto. In the working-class tradition of Steven Berkoff and John Godber, he gives a have-your-cake-and-eat-it performance that revels in macho exuberance even while it delivers a sobering message about communication breakdown. The details of that breakdown are slipped in teasingly. It feels like there is more to be said about Adam's fate and the degree to which Billy should be held accountable for failing to listen to his friend. It is a boisterous play about boisterousness, one that will keep knocking in the goals for audiences, even if it says more about the thrill of the hooligan lifestyle than the emotional inarticulacy behind it. At Underbelly Bristo Square, Edinburgh, until 25 August All our Edinburgh festival reviews
ITV News
20-07-2025
- Health
- ITV News
Family of Runcorn terminally ill dad organise event to register stem cell donors
The wife of a terminally ill man who has been given months to live after being diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia for the third time believes everyone should be placed on the stem cell register when they are born. Sean Turner, 39, a devoted dad and husband from Runcorn, was told from the moment he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) that he may need a stem cell register. But he "spent months" searching for a genetic match because of his mixed Greek and English heritage. Thankfully, a stranger in America came forward as a match, so that he could receive a transplant, which put him into remission, but it was not successful. Doctors say his options are now limited. Sean and his wife, Rebbeca, are now working with the charity DKMS, to raise awareness of the stem cell donor register and encourage people to sign up. 'A new drug trial is my last option really,' says Sean. 'It could give me some more time and I might eventually be able to have another transplant. "Despite everything, I'm feeling positive and hopeful. The transplant has given me more time with my family – I want other people to have that chance too." He added: "In the past year I've really seen how important it is for people to join the stem cell register. Nobody should end up needing to wait for a donor – nobody should be worrying about that. "Signing up to the stem cell register is so easy and takes less time than ordering a pint! It's just a few cheek swabs'. Rebbecca, Sean's wife, believes everybody should be automatically added to the stem cell register when they are born to help save more lives. "In Germany, for example, when you're born you're automatically put on that register," she said. "So if anything were to happen you're more likely to have a match. We didn't have a match for Sean, we had to wait months and months. "It's only one in 800 people from doing a stem cell drive who could even be a match for someone so we could potentially be saving someone's life today." DKMS Spokesperson Bronagh Hughes says, 'For patients like Sean, stem cell donors offer hope, as well as a crucial second chance at life. "Only a third of patients find a match in their family, so joining the register means that you could give someone more time with the people they love, and potentially save a life. "We'll be at Sean's charity football match to add people to the register, and answering any questions you have about signing up.' Joining the register is quick and easy, and involves a few simple mouth swabs. Anyone aged 17-55 and in general good health is eligible to join. "If you do get matched to a patient, in nine out of ten cases, stem cell donations are made through a simple, outpatient procedure similar to donating blood platelets." How do you donate stem cells and does it hurt? In about 90% of the cases the stem cells are taken from the bloodstream - just like giving blood. The donation takes 3-5 hours on one or two consecutive days. No surgery is necessary, you can usually leave the clinic the same day. Am I missing stem cells after the donation? The body reproduces the blood stem cells within about two weeks. The procedure of donating them is comparable to a blood donation, and does not lead to a permanent loss of stem cells. Who can donate? If you are aged between 17 and 55 years and in general good health, then you may be able to register as a blood stem cell donor. If you register when you are 17, you will not be able to donate blood stem cells yet, but on your 18th birthday, you will automatically be activated in our database and included in the global donor searches. Much more information on stem cell donation can be found on the DKMS website.
