Review: You Couldn't Make It Up, Live Theatre
by Victoria Watson, Evening Chronicle
Young reviewer Victoria Watson catches You Couldn't Make It Up, at Live Theatre, Newcastle, until Sunday.
YOU really couldn’t make up the recent events at Newcastle United, which is why father and son writing duo Michael and Tom Chaplin, lifelong NUFC fans, have combined real-life testimonials from insiders with dramatic interpretations to study what went on between Kevin Keegan and Mike Ashley last September.
This 90-minute project is so authentic that I found myself nodding along in agreement with the statements, as though I was having a conversation in the pub.
Although the actors may refer to their scripts at times, this is because the script is so up-to-date it even features last weekend’s result.
You Couldn’t Make It Up features a minimal set of four chairs and a couple of beer cans. It’s presented in the form of four season ticket holders bemoaning the state of the club and its faraway glory days.
The combination of fact and fiction makes the dramatic interpretations totally believable. The four actors, dressed in Newcastle United shirts take on different accents when giving the audience samples of the quotes received from journalists, former players and pundits.
There seems to be a genuine enthusiasm among the cast that makes you believe they, like 50,000 others, really are exasperated at the state of the club.
Bill Fellows’s Kevin Keegan has just the right amount of insecurity alongside a waning passion for the game to retain his status as a sympathetic figure.
Mark Benton’s interpretation of reclusive Ashley shows a great deal of background research, and the man possibly best known for his "brand new customers only" catchphrase steals the show.
Despite being a Boro fan, Benton exudes passion for the subject. His impressions of Graham Taylor and Mark Lawrenson among others are a real highlight.
The characters’ exchange of memories evoked my memories of where I was at important moments in the club’s history.
By using a wide range of methods, from fans’ quotes to the opinions of local politicians and club historians, this project goes some way to explaining why the relationship between Keegan and Ashley dissolved.
Although we may never know what went on behind the scenes, this intelligent version goes a long way to explaining the complex factors behind the infamous bust- up.
Even if you are not a football fan, I urge you to see this wonderful show which explores the very human themes of jealousy, disrespect and humiliation. Purely belter.
