Macbecks, or the Beckhams meet Shakespeare
Is football entertaining? Some people clearly think so. I, Keano, a musical about Irish footballer Roy Keane's disastrous adventures with the national team before the 2002 World Cup, and presented as a mock-epic melodrama about a Roman legion, generated €10 million in ticket sales and was seen by more than half a million people. Sounds crazy, but there you are. Numbers don't lie.
Enter Macbecks tonight at Dublin's Olympia Theatre. Hoping to cash in on our obsession with the football and celebrity circuses, it tells of a dynasty in Elizabethan England ruled by a glamorous player and his queen, Poshoria, a fashionista and former singing star. A tyrannical father figure, Fergie, eggs on his protégé, flanked by a pair of defenders (Garycrantz and Phildenstern) who are really pretenders to the throne. Following the intervention of three witchy babes determined to spice up his life, Macbecks's fate follows the arc of a famous deposer of the Scottish throne.
So, can it do the business? Well, that's where timing comes into the picture. The recession will either hit it (people saving money and staying in) or help it (people needing a laugh and going out). Luckily, Becks is back on the front pages and will be making his Serie A debut with AC Milan at Roma on Sunday. Timing! On the other hand, there's something about the Beckhams that defies comedy. Despite their riches and fame, they remain married. Most celebrity couples in their position would split, divide the loot and share the kids with the tabloids, but David and Victoria don't. An odd normality marks their abnormality. Maybe it's all an act.
