Red or Dead – Novel About Bill Shankly Turned Into a Play

One of the best things about Liverpool is that the city has no shortage of characters to make art about.

Whether you’re looking at the history of The Beatles or the people that make up the past of the city’s two football clubs, you can look almost anywhere and find something to write about if you want to.

That is exactly what David Peace did when he wrote his novel Red or Dead, looking at the period of time that Bill Shankly managed Liverpool Football Club from 1959 until 1974, which has now been turned into a play.

The Novel

There is a very good chance that you will know the world of David Peace, even if you have never read one of his books. Born in Dewsbury in 1967 before growing up in West Yorkshire, he studied at Manchester Polytechnic prior to leaving in order to head to Istanbul to teach English.

His father had an impressive book collection, which he used to study and would later be one of his more formative influences. The reason there is a good chance that you will have heard of him is that a number of his books have been adapted for stage and screen.

Just about to start this. Loved his ‘Red Riding Quartet’ novels. pic.twitter.com/VqR4N65d3K

— Nigel Barrett (@Scorby_Doo) March 17, 2025

Between 1999 and 2002, for example, he wrote the Red-Riding Quartet, which were four novels that looked at police corruption against the backdrop of the Yorkshire Ripper murders between 1975 and 1980, which were later adapted into a TV series for Channel 4.

Better known than them, arguably, was his novel about the 44 days that Brian Clough spent as manager of Leeds United Football Club, The Damned Utd. That was made into a film starring Michael Sheen as Brian Clough and became a huge success.

@geyejoe From the Damned United with Clough played brillantly by Michael Sheen. #teamtalk #foryoupage #fyp #damnedunited #football #sport #leeds #leedsunited #brianclough #cloughie #funny #michaelsheen #thedamnedunited ♬ original sound – GEyeJoe

In 2013, Peace published a novel called Red or Dead, which took a look at the life of Bill Shankly and the period that he was in charge of Liverpool Football Club.

During Shankly’s reign, the Merseyside club went from being a Division Two side that had won trophies in the past but had been largely forgotten about through to being the most successful English club of all time.

Shankly is widely considered to be the father of modern-day Liverpool, with Red or Dead being shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize not long after its publication.

The Play

Bill Shankly once said, “I’m a people’s man. Only the people matter”. That, of course, was one of many quotes that the famous Scottish manager came out with, but it gives a sense of who he was as a person.

It also helps to indicate why the work of David Peace might have been turned into a novel, later adapted for the stage by Phillip Breen and put on for audiences at Liverpool’s Royal Court Theatre. The play presented a huge cast, who were brought in to put the life of Bill Shankly onto the stage for the people to watch.

Saw Peter Mullan lead an extraordinary cast in the adaptation of Red or Dead at the Liverpool Royal Court, today.

It is simply extraordinary.

I’m no football fan but I know a remarkable theatre show when I see one.

— Steve Doherty (@stevedoherty.bsky.social) 22 March 2025 at 20:26

With 52 people taking to the stage during the course of the production, it is a show that looks at the work of Shankly as well as his life after that work.

In some ways, Shankly epitomised what it was to be a Scouser, even though he wasn’t one. He said himself, “Although I’m a Scot, I’d be proud to be called a Scouser”. Whilst Evertonians in the modern world would be unlikely to be willing to spend time watching a play about Liverpool’s most famous manager, those of a certain vintage will remember what he did for the city.

A Tremendous Cast

Those who don’t tend to go to the theatre unless they know either the show that they will be watching or else the people on stage will no doubt be tempted when they learn who it is that stars in the show.

Names like Les Dennis, Paul Duckworth, and Peter Mullan, the latter of whom plays Shankly himself, will be well-known to a number of TV watchers. “Liverpool was made for me, and I was made for Liverpool” is one of Shankly’s better-known quotes, perhaps being equally as applicable to the play itself and its performances.

Similarly, the director might have been heard speaking to his cast and uttering another of Shankly’s famous quotes, “All I ask is that we try to make the people happy”. The play itself has received almost universal praise, which should be reason enough for you to head along and see it any time that it is staged.

Such is the subject matter that it was the only thing that could persuade Peter Mullan to return to the stage for the first time in three decades.