Red or Dead review ? Peter Mullan tackles Bill Shankly in uneven adaptation

Royal Court, Liverpool
Playing the feted Liverpool FC manager, Mullan leads a bustling new stage version of David Peace?s 2013 novel
Moments before Red or Dead begins, we watch Peter Mullan warming up. At the edge of the stage, arms windmilling, his face set in concentration, he looks like a footballer waiting to take to the pitch. In fact he?s Liverpool manager Bill Shankly. In writer-director Phillip Breen?s new play, adapted from David Peace?s book, we see Shankly take the club into the first division and on to FA and Uefa Cup victories between 1959 and his retirement in 1974.
Narration is passed from one actor to another in a 52-strong cast, rippling across them like a chant around a stand. This huge ensemble moves over the stage like a shoal of fish, gravitating towards Shankly. Mullan stands, solid as a tree trunk, as if defending a goal; squinting into the distance like someone sizing up a shot. His hand flicks forward while motivational lines fire out of his mouth like the blasts of a whistle.
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