Red writers set to play it again

Dave Kirby and Nicky Allt's 'Brick Up The Mersey Tunnel' broke all box-office records at Liverpool's Royal Court Theatre last summer.

Now it's set to return for another six-week run and tickets are once again selling fast.

"Brick Up was the most popular piece of theatre staged in Liverpool for many years," said Kevin Fearon, chief executive of the Royal Court.

"It taps into a rich vein of distinctly Scouse humour and is set to become a classic.

"Brick Up combines great theatre with great comedy, which makes for fantastic entertainment."

Dave and Nicky are big Liverpool fans and here is an extract from an interview we conducted with them last year...

DK: Being taken to the match by my dad for the first time in 1965. I went in the old Boys Pen and from that day onwards I've been absolutely in love with the place. It's been a massive, massive part of my life. During all the years I worked in the building trade this was my escape.

NA: My dad took me to a reserve game in 1967. It was against Everton, Ray Clemence was playing and we won 3-0. I remember enjoying that. Another thing that sticks in my memory is of a kid coming up to me in Kirkby and giving me a ticket for a game at home to Newcastle, not sure of the exact year but I think it must have been the early seventies because we'd just signed Keegan and he was playing. Anyway, I went in the Anfield Road and we won 5-0.

NA: One player everyone tends to overlook is Jan Molby and I don’t know why because he was a fantastic footballer. With his belly and that, he reminded me of a Sunday League player but what a player. He also had dead small feet, think he only took a size four or five, which for such a big man was a bit strange. I went up to him once and said, 'Hey, twinkletoes, you're one of the greatest footballers I've ever seen, but you're feet are tiny' and he just went, 'Yeah, but they can play!' So, I'd deffo have to put Molby up there among my favourites, along with the obvious ones like Kenny Dalglish and John Barnes. My favourite player at the moment though is Momo Sissoko.

DK: I'd have to go for Dalglish because he gave me so much joy during the period I consider to be my heyday as a Red, when I was going home and away all the time.

NA: And what about Joey Jones? Can't believe I forgot him!

DK:And Jimmy Case.

NA: Jimmy Case! There's another one. We sold him ten years too early. He should have been our captain after Souness.

DK: I'll have to include John Barnes as well. He came here from Watford and was like a breath of fresh air. I'd never seen nothing like that. Dalglish the manager unlocked something in Barnes that no other manager could.

NA: He had Beardsley with him though. Another fantastic player. Together with John Aldridge they were the catalysts for arguably our greatest team ever in 87/88. If it hadn’t been for the European ban after Heysel in '85 the big Cup would have come back here at least another three times.

DK: Without a doubt. It was such a shame that we couldn't unleash that great team on Europe.

NA: Any conversation about the greatest Liverpool players and teams is endless. We could go on forever.

Memorable Moments

Dave: (pulling up his shirt-sleeve to show a fading LFC tattoo). Eight of us got them done on the Friday ahead of the long train journey to Rome. We weren't told that they'd scab over though and when we finally got to Italy we all had one arm bandaged up! Nicky: (proudly raising the arm of his t-shirt to show off a much more recent LFC tattoo) Your Liver Bird looks like a duck! A little Scouse duck with a pair of Air Wear on!

DK: The first European Cup Final in '77. And I've got a lasting souvenir (pulls up his shirt-sleeve to show a fading LFC tattoo). Eight of us got them done on the Friday ahead of the long train journey to Rome. We weren't told that they'd scab over though and when we finally got to Italy we all had one arm bandaged up!

NA: (proudly raising the arm of his t-shirt to show off a much more recent LFC tattoo) Your Liver Bird looks like a duck! A little Scouse duck with a pair of Air Wear on!

DK: (Laughs) I know, it's got a big ale gut and everything. But seriously, if I could ever relive one week of my life it would be that. It was just an incredible time and easily my greatest moment in football. I'll never forget the train stopping in the Swiss Alps, all the lads had their heads out the window and someone started yodeling and it echoed right around the mountains. Next minute everyone was doing it. It was hilarious.

NA: It's funny that you mention that because a similar thing happened only last year, when we were stuck in the hills again, crossing over the Turkey/Bulgaria border on our way home from the 2005 European Cup Final. It was about six o'clock in the morning and exactly the same thing happened.

NA: If I had to single out my finest moment I've got to be honest and say I'd struggle. But if pushed, I'd probably choose Istanbul, because of the game itself; the way we thought we were dead and buried at half-time, the way the crowd sang at half-time and the amazing comeback that followed. It's a story that's been well told many times before but when Dudek made that last penalty save to win us the cup, for me personally, it was like everything had come full circle. We'd waited so many years for it, during which time we'd been banned from Europe and forced to watch so many disappointing teams. But after Istanbul everything seemed complete. Everything that happens in the future now is just a bonus. No football fan can have seen more success than us.

DK: There's a fella I know from Leicester who runs a bar in Majorca. He's about 59 and in his whole life he's only ever been to Wembley once. That hit it home to me how lucky we have been as Liverpool fans. People will look back in 100 years time and go 'wow' when they hear about this amazing purple patch we enjoyed in the sixties, seventies and eighties. It was the most successful period any club in this country has experienced and we lived through it.

NA: Travelling all over the world to watch Liverpool has been a mind-broadening experience. You have to travel away in order to fully appreciate where you come from. I've been doing it since I was sixteen. Through football I've been to the likes of Swaziland and Japan, and many other places people will never go. Even going to Switzerland for pre-tours – there are so many special memories

NA: I also can't let this moment pass without recalling the time when we beat Everton to do the double '86. I remember coming out of Wembley with such a euphoric feeling. I was on such a high, there were tears. It was such a supreme buzz, matched only by Istanbul.

NA: We can't talk about Liverpool without mentioning the man who made it all possible. Our God.

DK: Of course, the one and only Mr Bill Shankly.

Dave: Scousers are very passionate people. It's their nature. But when someone like Shankly taps into this, it's like throwing matches onto a fire and he ignited that flame which was already inside us as Liverpudlians. Nicky: To me as a kid he was the messiah because of the way he spoke about the club and the city. I just wish there was more people like him about nowadays because he had a galvanizing effect on everyone.

DK: Scousers are very passionate people. It's their nature. But when someone like Shankly taps into this, it's like throwing matches onto a fire and he ignited that flame which was already inside us as Liverpudlians. He was arrogant but in a passionate way. Even today, if I ever hear old clips of him talking I get goosebumps. He was like a prophet in a way and his speeches are the stuff of legend. I've read a lot of Shakespeare and he came up with a lot of great phrases. Shankly was the same.

NA: To me as a kid he was the messiah because of the way he spoke about the club and the city. I just wish there was more people like him about nowadays because he had a galvanizing effect on everyone. People like me and Dave are writing now because of people like him. Young people look up to figures like Shankly and think 'hold on, he believes in us,' and this gives them confidence to go on and do whatever in any walk of like. Shankly believed in the people of Liverpool and society today needs more people like him.

DK: In some respects this fella we've got here now, Rafa, is like the Spanish version of Shankly. I really feel something about him.

NA: He's well-mannered, holds himself together well and seems to have everything really.

DK: If he makes a dud signing they are gone the next year. He sees it straight away and in that respect he's the opposite of managers who'd keep hold of players for years out of spite just because they bought them.

NA: I mean, two trophies in two years and the European Cup in his first. You can't ask for more than that.

DK: It's frightening to think what he may go on to achieve.

NA: I started off in the Boys Pen, then the Kop and by the time I was about 16, when we all started dressing differently from the rest of the country, it was into the Anfield Road for me.

DK: I've stayed loyal to the Kop, although it's Block 109 for me now. This is our home and the roots of everything we've done in life stem from this place. I love it.

'Brick Up The Mersey Tunnel', written by Dave Kirby and Nicky Allt, and starring Drew Schofield, of Scully fame, and former Brookside actresses Eithne Brown and Suzanne Collins, begins on Friday 13 July.

For details on how you can book tickets, click here>>