YOU can always rely on the Royal Court to bring a healthy dose of Scouse humour to the festive season but this year the setting is thousands of miles from the Mersey shores.
Father O’Flaherty has been sent to a Pacific island to convert the natives with his guitar and a bevy of singing nuns.
To his surprise, they are all descended from an shipwrecked Liverpudlian, Billy Riley, who washed up on the sand back in the 18th century.
“All the men of the island had previously been killed by a tsunami while they were out fishing and it’s just inhabited by women so he sets about repopulating,” explains Paul Duckworth, who plays the dastardly developer Roger Burke.
Duckworth, who you may recognise as Ringo Starr from the 1994 film Backbeat, is a newcomer to the Christmas show cast but there are many familiar faces.
Alan Stocks returns as Father O’Flaherty, a character from last year’s seasonal offering, Merry Ding Dong, also written by Fred Lawless.
From that show are also Stephen Fletcher, who recently impressed critics as Paul McCartney in Lennon, Lindzi Germain and Rachel Rae.
Add Royal Court regular Andrew Schofield and director Bob Eaton (Lennon, Our Day Out) and you have the recipe for a fun Christmas show.
“I live on a nearby island, which is inhabited by the descendants of Captain Hoylake, the captain of the shipwrecked HMS Bootle,” says Duckworth.
“Stephen Fletcher plays my nephew, Mr Richard Head, and our plan is to exploit the island.”
Although he is looking forward to spending his first Christmas as a married man – he wed his 22-year partner Jane earlier this year – the father-of-three is enjoying playing such a nasty character.
“He’s a Dick Dastardly, an easily dislikable chap – greedy, scheming, anti-Scouse,” he says.
With musical numbers and a six-strong cast, Scouse Pacific is very different to Duckworth’s most recent show.
He spent six months of this year touring John Graham Davies’ one-man play Beating Berlusconi about life long Liverpool fan Mark Radley, a cobbler from Allerton, who ended up sitting next to Silvio Berlusconi during the 2005 Champions League final.
He is hoping the show will tour again early next year, perhaps to Ireland where it was a hit.
“Doing a one man show, you haven’t really got anybody to banter with. You’re alone in a room and occasionally a technician comes in and says ‘are you ready?’
“But this is a lot of fun. I have always loved working in ensembles.”
SCOUSE Pacific is at the Royal Court from November 26 to January 8.
