Originally published by L.S. Media. May 18th 2010.

Cast: John McArdle, Neil Fitzmaurice, Ann Marie Davies, James Spofforth, Steven Fletcher, Tony Caveney, Darren Farley, Kate McEvoy, Anthony Goddfrey, Marc Hughes, James Johnson, Ian Kellgren.

Every Liverpool or football fan knows where they were the night Liverpool won the European Cup/Champions League in 2005 for the fifth time. Some were possibly were around the country enjoying the late May evening and getting more and more despondent as the first half drew on to its bitter conclusion, certainly they would have felt helpless as they were so far away from the Ataturk Stadium that their cheers and groans were only audible to those sharing a pub with them in Bootle, Toxteth, and all points in between.

For fans who hitched, flew, cycled their way to Istanbul for that incredible night, the lows and highs were all too real as they saw the team humbled in the first half and then like Dickie Lewis, beautifully resurgent, as they staged, arguably one of the greatest comebacks in European football.

One Night in Istanbul focuses on the night through the eyes of four fanatical Liverpool fans, Gerry Edwards and his son Joseph and Tommy Kelly and his son Jamie. As the story progresses we see how fans are more alike than they dare to admit, with their quirks, their superstitions and their absolute loyalty to the team that has chosen them. John McArdle as ever puts in a polished, top class performance as the aforementioned Gerry Edwards, In fact John is so good as the persona of Gerry with his use of language, his stories and his crusty demeanour (let alone his crusty pants that hadn’t been changed since the win over the Greeks) that you forget that it is a local actor and not the real thing.

The set is a visual dream with the use of an expansive set, split brilliantly into three distinctive parts, at either end the use of a large screen is used effectively as reminders of previous cup final wins and the stars of the game. The middle of the stage is set aside for the run down hotel room where the action takes place over the course of 48 hours. The narrative is helped along by the vocal and guitar playing talent of Anthony Godfrey, who tells the tale to the changed lyrics of America’s Horse with No Name to great applause.

The action and one-liners come thick and fast throughout the play and it has to be said that if you miss one line because of an audience member laughing so hard that you don’t hear it, do not worry, another will be along very soon. There is a lot to be said for a cast that can cope with the quickness of a play and there wasn’t a bad performance all night by all that were on stage.

Nicky Alt’s play deserves to be up there amongst the greats that this city has produced, and a great taster for his new play due out in the summer.

Ian D. Hall