Brian Beacom

Brian Beacom

WHEN two actors tell of how they once changed clothes on the floor of a war-torn Belfast hall to avoid being shot at, you know they are men of some experience.

And more than a little bold.

And when they can look back and laugh at the demands placed on them by extremist groups on both sides, you know they comedy bones.

Pat Abernethy and Dave Marsden are the ideal performers to be fronting On Our Way To Lisbon.

The play, by Glasgow writer Patrick Prior, tells the story of Celtic’s road to victory against Inter Milan in 1967.

The pair play two supporters, Denny and Tony, who tell the story on their way to a funeral.

But Patrick Prior’s play requires the actors morph into a range of characters, from journalists to vicious Swiss players, to the entire population of Lisbon.

And it runs faster than extra time when your two goals down.

Pat and Dave met back in the late seventies. Pat grew up in Belfast, but became a student at Trinity College in Dublin where he met Dave. They formed their own theatre company but distilled it down to a duo.

“We tried out one show and said if it didn’t work we’d go back to our separate careers,” says Pat, smiling.

But it did work. The pair worked hard in Ireland, developing comedy shows, variety nights.

“At the time there was nothing going on in Belfast or Derry in terms of theatre but the Arts Council would throw money at us to do ‘community projects’,” says Dave, smiling.

“They’d gives as a van and a list of addresses and we’d head up the Shankill Road or wherever. This was theatre at grass roots level. No frills.”

Every performance involved major drama.

“One night we turned up to a building the Faulds Road,” says Dave, “and there were no windows in the place except one. No street lighting outside.

“We noticed the place was riddled with bullet holes and that’s why two nice middle-class boys found themselves getting changed on the floor, just in case we got shot.”

Pat adds; “We were scared. There is no denying it. But at least we got to go home after the gig, not like the audiences who came to see us.”

Dave smiles as he recalls the unpredictability of putting on shows in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.

“One night we turned up early for a show in the Shankill, and before the gig were asked to play in an under 18s five-a-side tournament.”

It was one of the many occasions when to refuse would have been to cause offence.

“Then after the show we were asked to do the over-Sixties talent night presentations, with me playing the piano to Harry Lauder’s Keep Right On. When the lady sang I had to do a tour of the keys.

“Then at the end of the night we had to go for a drink with ‘the boys’’”

Dave adds; “We’re not telling of these people in a critical way. We had a huge respect for people trying to get on with their lives.”

The Irish reality check over, the pair travelled across Britain, offering up political satire and variety to community theatres across the land.

The actors found themselves working at the Theatre Royal Stratford East where they met Patrick Prior, the resident writer.

“We were running variety shows there at the time,” says Dave. “It was great fun. We had sketches, magicians, everything. And a big sing song in the bar later.

“Patrick loved the idea of people’s theatre and he said to us one day, ‘You know, I’d love to write a play you guys could perform out of a suitcase. Where you just turn up and off you go.’ And we said, ‘Well, write one!’”

And he did. After a couple of efforts, Patrick came up with On Our Way To Lisbon.

“The football theme was inevitable because the three of us are passionate about football,” says Pat. “And Celtic is in the DNA.”

Yet, here were two Irish actors performing as Glaswegians?

“We didn’t think the accents would be a problem,” says Dave.

“We both became actors to become other people and accents are part of what we do.”

He adds, smiling; “And Pat’s wife is from Falkirk, so she drilled us to make sure we got it right.”

Pat agrees you don’t have to be from the Calton to convince as a Glaswegian.

“If you appear in Death of a Salesman and you can’t do an American accent then don’t get up on the stage,” he says in emphatic voice.

“And while Glaswegian is tricky, we’ve embraced it.”

In 2002, the pair were off and running with the Celtic play. Well, almost. Patrick Prior had less lofty ambitions for the work than the two actors who would perform it on stage.

“He said he didn’t think it was a theatre piece,” says Dave.

“He thought it would be performed in Celtic clubs. But we said, no, do a couple of additions to it and it will run in theatres.”

Pat picks up the story; “We wanted to include more detail of the guys’ lives, just to break up the routine of the games.

“We knew the audience knew these guys. They are part of their community.”

On Our Way To Lisbon is a minimalist production. The set consists of two chairs on the stage. It’s theatre at its most basic – it’s a jumpers for goalposts approach to stage design - and it’s very clever.

But it’s not about being cheap.

“It doesn’t need more because it all takes place in the audience’s imagination,” says Pat, smiling.

What also makes the play work is the very idea of two grown men re-enacting glory moments from football matches. But it isn’t absurd at all. It’s what grown men do up and down the country in the pub after matches.

The tackles, the headers, the shirt grabbing are talked out and partially re-enacted.

“It gives it all a childlike quality,” says Pat. “And it works because the game is all about childlike emotions. You scream, you cry. When you win its fantastic. When you lose, life is over. And that’s the way children react.”

The plays isn’t just about a game that took place 50 years ago. It’s a reminder of the days before players earned £100k a week and lost their connection with the community.

It’s a reminder of a game once played by working class men for working class fans.

The Rangers-Celtic Scottish Cup semi-final match will be played on the same day at the King’s Theatre performance, which gives the play an added piquancy.

But does On Our Way To Lisbon ever attract football fans who weren’t brought up in bedrooms with green wallpaper?

“We get Rangers fans coming to see the play,” Pat reveals, grinning, perhaps a little surprisingly, given the theatre show is very much a chance to remember a wonderful dream for Celtic fans.

“They like the comedy, they like to see how the story of a cup run is told out.”

He adds, grinning; “But they usually say they don’t like the ending.”

• On Our Way To Lisbon, The King’s Theatre, May 23. Also running at Motherwell Theatre, April 18, the Palace Theatre Kilmarnock, April 21, the Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock, April 27.