Life Changing Moments (6/4/13)

I read the start of this and thought, "No, no need to move this one over, it's a nothing day."

Then I scanned down and realised what had actually happened that day.

And what actually happened was - my entire life changed.

And I didn't even notice at the time. I couldn't notice at the time. You don't always notice that your life just changed. 

You meet someone, you apply for something, you enter a competition...

You go the theatre for a night out.

So, one week into two week's holiday and what have I achieved so far?

Bugger all, quite frankly.

The sheer quantity of washing I've done this week would indicate that we have a family of about 30 not the four of us that there actually are. And I did some ironing. Which is a first for me. I ironed bedding.

And I've watched a few more episodes of Utopia, which is one of the best things I've seen on telly in years but all the writing I was going to do? No, just the usual daily stuff. Still haven't come up with this great unpublished novel or film script that I keep swearing I've got. Or this Beatles theory that I keep claiming that I'm going to put in my blog.

Oh, and there've been a lot of losses on FIFA13 online. And I mean a lot. But there was a glorious 6-0 thrashing of Milan yesterday afternoon, I think it may be my peak and I should probably retire now.

But the weekend is becoming a bit busier; family 'do' this afternoon if we can actually get to my Mum's through all the bloody National traffic, night out in Manchester with a lot of good friends tonight and Liverpool vs West Ham with a hangover tomorrow.

Last night though, last night we did something. We being me, our Keith, our Kevin (in age order as always) and our Tony. Tony is over for the weekend from Philadelphia on his way to Paris. As you do.

So the four of us went to the theatre. The theatre. If I stick Radio 3 on for half an hour now I could take the BBC class quiz again and move up to Middle Class. So I'm not going to.

We spent the evening at the newly refurbished, newly opened Epstein Theatre. It used to be The Neptune, home of millions of school age pantomime trips. It's a lovely theatre, traditional, proper. The play in question? Beating Berlusconi, a true story of how one travelling Scouser in Istanbul in 2005 found himself sitting next to illustrious 'Milano Presidente' and interestingly colourful Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as his team went from a 3-0 half time lead to succumbing to the greatest comeback in the history of sport.

Of course it may be about football but it's not about football, it's about life, about growing up, family, friendship, marriage, loss and responsibility. It's about one man's life told through the vehicle of the club he supports and one incredible night in a lifetime's list of momentous events.

John Graham Davies, a Huddersfield Town fan and ex-Hollyoaks actor provides a superlative script with a lovely rhythm, moving seamlessly back and forth in the lead character's life. Sharply observed true life comedy slides seamlessly into explorations of the tragedies of Heysel and Hillsborough with a true understanding of the nature and causes of both. To take an audience from roars of laughter to utter silence in a heartbeat is a masterful feat. To tie Berlusconi's loss in Istanbul into Thatcher's loss of power and the attitude of everybody that has put this city down over the last three decades ties the personal into the political quite brilliantly.

Star of the show is Paul Duckworth. Ex-Brookside, Ringo in Backbeat, Dixie in the hugely popular 'Reds and Blues'. Star of the show due to the fact that he is the only person on stage. Two hours, just him, forty characters, all individual, all real. It's an extremely physical, vibrant performance. The phrase 'tour de force' has been used to describe this. I can't argue with or improve on that. And he's a blue who convinces you otherwise "THAT" he explains to an audience member in the front row at the end "is acting!"

Sharp direction from Matt Rutter, completes the evening. A Huddersfield fan getting beneath the skin of a Liverpool fan ( the real life Mark Radley)'s experience,  a blue portraying a red as though born into it, a Manchester United fan pulling the night together.

And all giving a thoroughly 'Liverpool' night out. A life shown through football in the way that we show our lives in music and film and literature and, well, everything that we talk about really. In the way that everything that we live through shows who we are, shows how everything is linked

Two nights left. Possibly the last time that it will appear in Liverpool. Do yourself a favour......

I looked at the stage that night, looked at the way that the script moved, looked at how you could have comedy and tragedy sit next to each other and each be valid and necessary and important, how you could tell an honest story, saw how it resonated with every single person in the room despite the fact that we don't all live the same life...

The way it resonated with me.

And I thought, "I could do that. I could write something like that."

That's the night I 'became' a playwright.

Thanks John x