Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Jake Abraham, Les Dennis, Katie King, Catherine Rice, Bobby Schofield, Andrew Schofield.
The greatest show on Earth is back with us once again, a nation’s hopes rest on an outstretched toe connecting with the ball and being steered into the net, a black cloud of despondency as the home crowd sees their team lose in the opening game and the eventual winners, lifting the World Cup aloft in front of a stadium full of supporters, should rank highly in ways to feel the euphoric bliss of life.
The kiss perhaps of a Saint who has blessed you with an insight, a vision of how the game will turn out and that couple of hundred pounds won against the might of the bookies all the sweeter, a surprise of fortune, a whisper and a promise of better times ahead, and all because of a goal scored and what can only be described in some parts as The Miracle of Great Homer Street.
It is a rare and beautiful moment in which the lesson being earnestly discussed through the twin saints of humour and pathos in Gerry Linford’s The Miracle Of Great Homer Street are to be witnessed by an appreciative crowd, by those to whom understand a nation’s love of the beautiful game has perhaps got out of hand with bookmakers of every size encouraging betting as a hobby, a pastime in which the chances of making serious money is the all-consuming purpose.
Nobody will ever forget the way Scotland beat the eventual finalists, Holland, in 1978, but for Father Aherne and the unemployed Terry, it is more than a goal, it seems fate, a gamble into the unknown, and for St. Cajetan, played superbly by Jake Abraham, the continued dutiful worship of the priest asking for an insider knowledge, all played out against the backdrop of sparkling Liverpool humour and the dichotomy of the spectre of unemployment and mass state failure.
It is with humour that we overcome the desperate and forced upon punches by those who seek to rob us of all we own, and with the tremendous Bobby Schofield working alongside his father Andrew for the first time, Les Dennis giving a consummate performance as the priest to whom all rides on the outcome of each match in the World Cup, and Katie King and Catherine Rice supporting wonderfully as the mother and daughter caught up in the scheme which tests faith and brings a huge smile to the Royal Court’s audience’s lips.
A tale of morality should always be this much fun, The Miracle of Great Homer Street is one to feel the beauty of temptation and one that you can bet your life on leaving you feeling flush and your heart all a flutter.
Ian D. Hall