Red or Dead review – Peter Mullan never walks alone as Liverpool FC hero Bill Shankly

Chris Wiegand - TheGuardian - 27/03
A cast of more than 50 delivers an inspiring adaptation of David Peace’s epic novel about a manager who prized socialism
Bated breath … Peter Mullan as Bill Shankly in Red or Dead at Liverpool’s Royal Court. Photograph: Atanas Paskalev
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Bated breath … Peter Mullan as Bill Shankly in Red or Dead at Liverpool’s Royal Court. Photograph: Atanas Paskalev
Review

Red or Dead review – Peter Mullan never walks alone as Liverpool FC hero Bill Shankly

Royal Court, LiverpoolA cast of more than 50 delivers an inspiring adaptation of David Peace’s epic novel about a manager who prized socialism

In 2016, an adaptation of David Peace’s The Damned United was staged in Leeds and Derby where its pugnacious subject, Brian Clough, is still viewed as villain and hero respectively. Peace’s next football novel was Red or Dead, a 700-page opus about Liverpool FC’s eternally beloved manager Bill Shankly. It is similarly adapted on home turf: the Royal Court has laid out the red carpet, serving Shanks pies and Shanks pints, honouring the man who transformed the club.

The Damned United had a cast of 11 and was bulked out with human-size Subbuteo-style mannequins. Re...
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