DAVID Bown’s 1998 relationship drama Stand, like John Godber’s fellow comedy of social rituals Bouncers, keeps coming back.

Staged by Reform Theatre Company a decade ago, it returns in an updated form now that Reform are an associate company at Harrogate Theatre, where Bown is the chief executive.

The Harrogate Studio Theatre run ended last Saturday but a tour rolls on into October and is worth the journey because Stand’s story of love, friendship and football stands the test of time.

Saturday’s game-playing routines continue on the all-seater terraces for semi-reformed Sheffield United hooligans Kev (Kivan Dene) and big Phil (Le Bainbridge) and at the boozer for their partners, play-away Laura (Amy Walsh) and pregnant wife Vicky (Farrel Hegarty).

Bown gives the Sheff Utd footballers more foreign names and has the blunt Blades fans comment on the fad for designer tattoos, while the girls’ dresses are skimpier than ever as they down lager bottles in one while they mentally undressing the bar’s male talent. Both man-watching experiences are becoming empty, frustrating, however.

The lads and lasses have both come to the crossroads of self-doubt in stories told separately, the lads first, before overlapping at the finale, as the implications of Vicky’s pregnancy loom large. Cleverly, Bown has the rituals mirror each other: Kev and Phil, on their terrace seats, joining in the chants amid a rising threat of violence; Vicky and Laura singing the jukebox songs while jostling for their pub chairs amid much shoving, shouting and swearing.

The humour dissipates when the four reunite, as they come to the realisation that the game really is over. Adult life is kicking in, a finale brought crushingly home by Dene and Walsh in kitchen-sink drama tradition.

Stand, Reform Theatre Company, on tour until October 12; reformtheatre.co.uk