You Really Couldn't Make It Up

Robert Hardie, Evening Chronicle

YOU would think that a show with four people reading from a script about a spectacularly awful season of football would make for rather depressing viewing.

Well, you would be wrong. As they quite rightly state, this is the only club you could write a play about and You Really Couldn’t Make It Up is a great watch for fans of Newcastle United.

Sure the focus is on the bad points of a turbulent year and it does move along slowly at times.

But what grabs your attention is the emotion of it all and the fact they’re saying on stage what all the fans are thinking.

The loves and pet hates from former glories to the inaccurate national media portrayal of Geordies works well in gaining audience approval.

Using opinions from press cuttings may not have broken new ground, but where this show really stands out is the fictional depiction of what happened between main players Kevin Keegan, Mike Ashley and Alan Shearer.

Ashley is cast as the ‘pantomime villain’ and this creates a resonance which relates to real life events.

The character is played as the supporters of the club imagine him to be and his scenes could well have been taken direct from his boardroom.

There are glimpses of his regret and you feel that despite it being made up, the man does genuinely regret his ill-fated tenure.

It also gives fans some small form of gratification that they were right and that he was the sole reason for United’s demise.

Not entirely true, but it’s always nice to have a scapegoat.

Above all, though, what stands out is the enduring passion that Newcastle United fans have for their club and it’s that passion that sees us through, and maybe, just maybe everything will turn out OK.

You Really Couldn’t Make It Up really does hit the back of the net.