The Stage

Beckham comedy musical planned for Dublin’s Olympia

Published Tuesday 1 July 2008 at 11:00 by Anthony Garvey

A comedy musical titled MacBecks, based on the life of football star David Beckham and his wife Victoria, is to be staged in Dublin, with the promoters hoping for a subsequent UK transfer.

The show follows the formula of I Keano, the spoof musical about Roy Keane’s walkout from the Irish World Cup squad, which had several sell-out runs at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre, toured provincial venues and also transferred to Salford. Two of the I Keano cast, Gary Cooke and Malachy McKenna, have scripted the new show and Long Road Productions, a company that has worked with Riverdance, will be involved in the staging.

“We’re very excited by the script - it’s a wild comedy romp that borrows from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, as well as Cyrano de Bergerac,” says Long Road Productions director Ronan Smith.

Posh is portrayed as an overly ambitious Lady Macbeth, for whom husband David sacrifices his career, and the list of characters includes Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson and Beckham’s former PA, Rebecca Loos.

With the show not due to open at the Dublin’s Olympia until January, casting has still to be decided. However, Cooke, who writes and performs with the Apres Match Irish comedy team, and McKenna, an established scriptwriter, are likely to have major roles, with other members of the I Keano cast also appearing.

Long Road Productions believes that, unlike I Keano, which was essentially a local story of Irish interest, MacBecks, a musical based on “the world’s best known footballer,” could have international box-office appeal.