How Mark beat Berlusconi

This weekend will see the show staged at the prestigious Theatre Clywd, they have had huge success in Norway and just around the corner could be a trip to Italy to showcase their story.

So Liverpoolfc.tv spoke to the man whose experiences inspired the play and to his friend who wrote the production. Here is their tale:

Mark Radley only went in search of a match programme as a memento of a night that, up until that point, had threatened to go down in history for all the wrong reasons. 

Strolling through the bowels of the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul at half-time on May 25, 2005, the cobbler from Aigburth had seen enough. Liverpool were three goals down to a dazzling AC Milan side and humiliation beckoned.

As he made his way through the concrete inners of the stadium, his surroundings began to gradually alter: stone floor turned to plush carpet, bland grey walls turned glistening white and the odd potted plant crept into view.

Pristine glass doors appeared ahead, manned by a pair of security guards.

"I stood back and observed and being the opportunist that I am, I spotted that, between the glass doors there were waiters serving champagne on silver platters," explained Mark. "So I got in and grabbed a glass of champagne.

"I could see that behind all these people there was food and the whole crowd seemed to be celebrating. So I went out onto a balcony and I could see the players were coming out for the second half.

"Then I get a tap on the shoulder and I thought, 'I'm getting thrown out here'. But I wasn't, it was someone asking me to sit down. But this steward says to me, 'not here'. When he spoke to me I thought, 'is that Italian? It doesn't sound Turkish'.

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"He indicated for me to sit elsewhere and everyone in the area looked a bit flabbergasted. Next thing this Don Corleone lookalike, with his slicked back hair and perma-tan, turned around and said, 'yeah it's OK'. Everyone was completely shocked at this point."

The man in question was Italian Prime Minister and AC Milan President Silvio Berlusconi. And his fellow corporate revellers were surprised because they fully expected the politician to eject the intruding Englishman.

Rather, the Prime Minister gestured for him to sit before proceeding to mock him; patting him on the leg and gesturing '3-0' with his fingers.

"We scored before long and I jumped up and down to celebrate, as you do, but no-one else seemed to be enjoying the moment," continued Mark. "We scored again but I contained myself because I didn't want to get kicked out. The third goal went in and there was no containing me.

"I was jumping up and down screaming red murder. As I did, this same Italian bloke started poking me on the shoulder again and then he was prodding me in the stomach. I tried to calm him down but he was still losing it. His security - armed - grabbed me and took me to one side."

They explained to Mark who the esteemed guest of honour was before hauling him away to what Mark presumed would be the exit. Instead he was shown to the Liverpool hospitality section where he watched the rest of the game and penalties with his childhood heroes.

Days later and back home in Aigburth, John Graham Davies, a former Hollyoaks actor was on the way to Mark's shop.

"We used to chat about footy and talk about Liverpool mainly," recounts John. "On occasions, just to humour me, he would let me talk about Huddersfield Town- my first love.

"Then Istanbul happened. I called in to see Mark to say, 'well done, fantastic result, it was amazing - where did you see it?' He said, 'Istanbul'. I said, 'that must have been something else' and he said 'it was, it was just amazing but the weirdest thing happened'.

"And then he told me about the story and I've never heard a footballing yarn like it."

John went away with only one thought on his mind and that was how to tell Mark's story to the world. So he set about writing it for television and sent his work to ITV who showed interested. However, after deliberation they decided it was too expensive to re-create the game and so declined.

Undeterred, John decided to write Mark's story for theatre. But there was a twist.

"I wrote it like stand-up. It was someone standing up before an audience and saying, 'right, I want to tell you a story'. But it's the length of a football match and it's one guy playing 40 characters."

The group played The Sandon, the Kirkby Unemployed Centre, the Fly in the Loaf. Next was Edge Hill's Rose theatre, the Bindley in Runcorn and Unity Theatre in Liverpool.

"We played The Casa as well, in the back room and in places like that it went down a storm," said John. "Not just for the comedy. I mean, it was full-on laughter but then in the quieter bits, like when we touch on Heysel and Hillsborough, you could hear a pin drop.

"We took it to Ireland, Scotland, South Wales, Newcastle, Darlington and it went down a storm. Particularly in footy towns like in Newcastle, where we sold out and there was a standing ovation."

John's next step was to take the tour to London. The thought being that during the summer of the World Cup, the locals would be so enthused by the beautiful game they would want nothing more than to go and see a play about one of the sport's most miraculous nights.

It turned out they would rather just watch the World Cup.

"We came away from London licking our wounds slightly," continued John. "But unbeknownst to us it would lead to better things. A few weeks later I had an email from this Norwegian guy saying, 'I saw your show, I loved it, can I translate it into Norwegian and do a production here?'

"So I sent off the script and forgot about it. We continued to tour over here and it was going really well. Then I got an email back saying, 'we've translated it, we've used a well-known Norwegian sports journalist called Egon Holstad, and we're going to start rehearsing'.

"And then last August I got an email inviting me to the opening night of 'Sla Berlusconi'.

"I flew over to Tromso. It was absolutely rammed, I sat next to the director and within seconds the audience are roaring with laughter. There was the same reaction to the Heysel and Hillsborough sections: silence and respect. The people right up in the north of Norway seem to have the same sense of humour as people back here in Liverpool."

The tour is coming to Theatre Clwyd this weekend and it promises to be at its sparkling best on March 30 and the 31st. There is an offer for LFC supporters who are Official club members. If you're a member, you can phone up and ask for two tickets for £20. By phoning on this number: 0845 330 3565.

To visit the Beating Berlusconi website, click here>>