Liverpool supporters may have bragging rights over their Everton counterparts following last month's Merseyside derby but there will be no winners when red and blue go head-to-head at the Royal Court this Christmas in 'Merry Ding Dong'.
As a lifelong Evertonian, Dingle-born Fred Lawless knows all too well the extremity in which football affects friends and families in the city.
Talking exclusively to Click Liverpool, the veteran playwright revealed that he sought inspiration from the Merseyside old firm for his festive offering.
He said: “I saw a house that was painted blue so the owner was obviously an Evertonian and I thought about what would happen if the guy next door was a Red and painted his house red.
“The play has got a Liverpool-based story about two families that live next door to each other. The two fellas have been really good friends ever since they were kids, they even bought a house next to each other.
"The only thing they disagree on is the fact that one is an Evertonian and the other supports Liverpool.
“But earlier in the year they go away on holiday to Talacre in North Wales when somthing went very, very wrong and all of a sudden from being the very best of friends they become real enemies.
"You don't actually find out what happened there until the end of the play but they certainly turn against each other and it affects their families.
“When the derby is on, people who are friends all year suddenly forget about it for just one week. It's the same thing here really but these guys have been doing it for several months and it's affecting their family and neighbours.”
Lawless returns to the Royal Court for the second time after the success of the co-written comedy Slappers and Slapheads and he admits that he does not view his latest effort as a traditional Christmas play.
"I always think that it's weird having Christmas plays on in January but there's a few panto's on with The Fonz (Henry Winkler) on at the Empire and the Everyman theatre are doing their one but ours is more catered for people who want to see adult comedy like the Royal Court's regulars so that's what we've done.
“It's a Christmas play but it's not a pantomime even though there are many elements of it that I suppose many people would recognise from panto-like comedy and silliness but it doesn't have a traditional pantomime story like Cinderella or Aladdin.”
The likes of Brookside’s Ethnie Brown and Rachael Rae from BBC Three’s Lunch Monkeys are set to tread the boards for the show and Lawless confirmed that the star of a classic Brit-flick will also be putting in an appearance.
"There's a lot of Royal Court regulars in there like Ethnie Brown, an actor called Stephen Aintree who was in Little Britain and Jake Abraham who played one of the Scousers in Lock Stock, so there's quite a very strong cast.”
In a career that has seen him produce scripts for national radio and TV soaps such as EastEnders, Lawless revealed to us that he is preparing to add another string to his bow after successfully negotiating the stage rights to The Lost Child of Philomena Lee, a real-life story written by former BBC journalist Martin Sixsmith.
He added: "I've been offered the stage rights by Martin. Since he left the BBC he's become a non-fiction author and he's written a book called The Lost Child of Philomena Lee.
"It's a very sad story and I approached Martin and negotiated the stage rights. The film rights have already been snapped up but I'm starting work on the script for a play which is nice to do because it's very different to the type of work I've showcased at the Royal Court."
Merry Ding Dong runs from Friday 11 December 2009 to Saturday 23 January 2010.
Tickets are priced from £10 and can be purchased by calling 0870 787 1866 or by visiting www.royalcourtliverpool.com
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