Taking Maine Road Blues to Buxton Fringe: Muses from Bill Cronshaw

Getting ready to launch Maine Road Blues this week. It’ll be my second Manchester City inspired play. Well, it’s hard to stop writing about something that just keeps taunting me with material. Like shooting fish in a barrel it is. The problem is…I have two things going against me: Firstly, I’m a City Fan – City ‘til I Die! And, secondly, I’m a playwright. Never the twain shall meet? Rubbish. I reckon I’ve got enough material to keep writing about football, City and tales of the past for a long time yet. That’s why I developed ‘living theatre’. All theatre is live of course- putting on plays in front of hundreds (or 5 people if it’s a quiet night in some Southern towns). And I suppose my kind of writing has also been around but I coined the term. And that’s that. Living theatre – it lives, grows, changes – right before your very eyes. Come and see me two nights on the run – I dare you! The gags change as fast as you can say Manchester City Twitter Feed. And that’s why my style is so suited to writing about Manchester City. The flippin’ club sees more changes to management staff than Dr Who. In fact, I reckon I could be onto something there. Do you think Manchester City’s manager is, in fact, just one bloke regenerating every so often? Even since I wrote Maine Road Blues, we’ve witnessed another ‘regeneration’. And if ‘alien time lord’ isn’t the answer then you tell me…have you seen Mancini recently? No. He buggered off around the same time as a certain American turncoat Spy called Snowden. Now correct me if you will, but my second theory is that Mancini booked a certain flight to Cuba and while every Hack in Britain and the US was looking for a bloke in dark glasses and a long mac, Mancini was merrily sipping his cocktail before sauntering off the plane into oblivion. Ah well…it keeps me busy. Now I’m off to pack my City scarf and rattle to preach the Gospel of Maine Road to another audience of potential converts. See you in Buxton.