Full interview originally published in Click Liverpool.

For the city of Liverpool, two topics of conversation are never more than five minutes away from being spoken of with passion, knowledge and enthusiasm; football and music. The subject matter when it comes to football varying wildly between the great teams on both sides of the camp of the 1980s sides who took on the very best and won with consummate ease to the days of the beloved Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley to the current teams battling again for the right to be numbered amongst Europe’s elite.

Nicky Allt’s terrific production of You’ll Never Walk Alone is one that resonates across the city as it takes a look through the eyes of one family the ups and downs of Liverpool Football Club, the tension, the great days, the dark despairing days in which justice was seemingly denied 96 innocent people on a sunny day in Sheffield. The great characters of the game, the cups, the trophies and the legends, all are to found bound up in a theatrical performance which even the Blue half of the city and supporters of other teams have come to respect and love.

Before the play starts its run at The Royal Court Theatre I was able to catch up with Mark Moraghan and Jake Abraham, two of the stars of the show.

How are you enjoying rehearsing the play?

Mark – “it’s fantastic! Once you do a show you think that’s it, it’s the end of it and you move on so to bring it back and Liverpool are doing well at the minute so it’s a good time to be doing it I think, new manager, we’re on the up in the Champion’s League position, so it’s a great time for the show to be on.”

Jake – “I’ve never done it before, I’m an Evertonian! The history of the club is something I’ve always kept an eye on growing up and I’ve always loved Shankly, everyone loved Shankly, he’s a honorary Scouser!”

Mark – “Jake’s very fair-minded! To be able to put the red shirt on and come and do what he does, there couldn’t be a better person to do it. “

Isn’t that the dynamic of the city, that you can do that? There’s no other city that could.

Mark – “I totally agree, the Manchester derby isn’t like it is here. I think there was probably a time in the early noughties when it was getting a bit nasty but I think that’s changed with the Hillsborough Campaign in the headlines again and the fact that justice is close, I think it’s bought has brought Merseyside together again and it’s uniting the Reds and Blues and the fact the Blues are doing well again and that they have a similar manager to Liverpool who likes to play good football so I think both sets of fans are on a high and I think it’s helping to cement a decent relationship between the two clubs.”

Do you find with the play that it reflects the city?

Jake – “What Mark just mentioned there, the play touches on all those issues It does reflect life in the city, in the 1980’s Margaret Thatcher took Liverpool apart, we reflect on that as well at the start of the second act. It’s trying not to be political but you can’t avoid politics, we don’t beat you over the head with it but there’s a small mention of it in there.”

The last time I saw the play, it was marvellous and what impressed me was all the costume changes!

Jake – “I keep asking Mark what’s next! There’s that many characters!

Aren’t you doing Bob Paisley?

Jake – “Yeah, amongst many other things!”

Mark – “It’s a logistical nightmare off stage. There’s loads of costume changes in the second half and knowing where you’ve got to be for certain elements of the show and you don’t get a second to rest do you?“

Jake – “No, not one minute!”

It seems to be a very hectic play?

Jake – “Someone said to me the other day that the safest place to be is on stage because you know what you’re doing there! You’re thinking all the time what’s next?”

Do you feel a level of responsibility to the club and the city itself?

Mark – “Yes, not only that but this time round, the club has come on board and that’s why it’s called the official history because the club are backing the show so we have a duty of care to tell the right story and as a Red, I want to get it right! I just want to get the tiny details right – have I got the right scarf for the right period, tracksuit for the right period, which we didn’t have in the first show. First time round, we were just kind of generic Red and that was it but we’re trying now for every scene to have the clothes of the day and the colours that they wore as well and the production values have gone up in that sense and it’s just nicer to look at and it’s more of a spectacle. It’s a bigger and better show for those reasons.”

Jake – “Not only just for those reasons but for the music as well, all the tunes are really good, the songs really get the crowd going.”

Mark – “The audio-visual stuff is great with the telling of the story and as a cast we kind of go back to Tommy Kelly’s wake, we’re all in the pub and it’s like we’re reliving Tommy Kelly’s life through the pub telly but what we’re doing is we’re reminiscing about the good old days, the wake with all its guests and all the good times we had watching the Reds and with Tommy Kelly and also the good times we’re going to have in the future. It’s got a real positive feel although it starts with a funeral, there’s a positive message there. It’s a celebration of the city.”

What’s your favourite Liverpool moment?

Mark – “It has to be Istanbul – I was there! The best night of my footballing watching days, it was unbelievable!  The one after that was being in the boys’ pen at the St. Etienne game – 1977, I climbed over the fence, I lost a shoe in the process when I went over! I managed to get into The Kop by the corner, it was the best atmosphere I’d ever experienced at Anfield but Istanbul is the best moment.”

I’m not a Liverpool fan but I used to love watching Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the 1970’s on the old television. There was a massive rivalry then. Do you have a memorable moment Jake?

Jake – “Yeah, Istanbul and going to the derbies when I was a kid. I remember going to a derby and I remember Liverpool beat Everton and it was 7-1 I think and the Istanbul match – I was watching it in a pub and it was an amazing come back, I just thought they were dead and buried!”

We were in Southampton that night before my friend’s wedding and the fans in the pub all thought the same!

Mark – “The bit we do in the show at half time – I remember going down the stairwell and all these people were leaving and arguing and fighting and so that’s why we put that scene in because we experienced it there so we thought what a great way of telling the story at half time and you see the family that’s supported them through thick and thin all arguing amongst themselves and you hear “You’ll Never Walk Alone” and everyone went right back into the stadium and that’s how it was, that’s what I remember, we reproduced that in the show and it’s all things that’s happened mostly.”

What have you coming up next Jake?

Jake – “It’s called Echoes of the First World War and it’s on next week at St. George’s Hall, it’s a great show and I’m really excited and surprised, all the actors are great and the two technical rehearsals have gone very well. I’m very proud to do it because of the subject matter and it being 100 years since the War, I’m honoured to do it.”

Ian D. Hall