Frank Duffy is a Liverpool writer who has a new play, called Once A Blue, coming very soon to The Hope Street Theatre in Liverpool city centre from April 25th - 27th, 2024. Tickets are available right now. In This what’s on special we had the opportunity to find out more about the the man behind the writing. we have to say he’s a good egg!

Frank’s new play, Once A Blue, is a drama about a young Liverpool lad’s dreams of playing professional football for his beloved Everton FC. It’s a dream many a young boy, and girl, has whether or not it’s Everton or another club. For what could beat the excitement and joy of realising your dream of playing for your home town team and running out to the roar of the fans at Goodison Park? It’s dream many aspire to but very few actually attain.

Frank Duffy has had an interesting journey to arrive at this point in his career as a writer. And yes he is a life long Evertonian and likes nothing better than the buzz of going to Goodison for a match on a Saturday afternoon. Each visit brings back childhood memories of watching his idols , or the times he played football in the street after school with his mates. Indeed, he played for his schools, St Patrick’s Juniors and St Martin’sSeniors in Toxteth and the local Pegasus youth club.

Indeed Frank’s ability at football led to him signing forms for...Liverpool FC! He went training to Melwood and played for junior teams before going off into other areas of interest.

And it was at the Pegasus youth club that he got his first taste of drama and acting. “Yes, I remember my first introduction to drama and performance. I had one line! “, he says now, “And I can still remember it, and it was ...”I ain’t no stool pigeon!! “ Classic! I thought, Hollywood here Icome!! It wasn’t but I was presented with a little cup for best boy in a scene.”

Frank grew up in Harrington Gardens, Mill Street Liverpool 8. Becoming a teacher, along with any ideas of writing for the theatre was probably one of the last things Frank thought about when he started his first job at 15. As Franks says about many of his school days “I left without any qualifications. School was never a great place for me. The things Iwas interested in never really happened, so I was always getting into trouble and couldn’t wait to leave. I seemed to be on a different wavelength or planet! So it was a bit mad when I became a teacher later on, teaching history and drama. And by then I had my own family and needed to do something instead of getting the sack from nearly every job I had!”

His first attempt at writing was a short story based on a family outing to Southport with his wife and their four young children. Frank’s plan was simple. He’d just started learning the guitar so, as usual, he thought the world was waiting for his fist live performance! On Lord Street on a busy, hot, noisy day. “Another classic Frank Duffy effort”, he says now. “ I would show Southport a great new musical talent. I’d busk and make a pile of money! What could be easier?” says Frank.

However no one listened, and he was moved on by the police from out side the train station. Not one penny did he get. But there was a sort of happy ending, as he used the experience to write his first comic short story which was broadcast on Radio Merseyside, for which he earned his very first payment from his writing. After that his creative journey took off.

as well as becoming a writer, Frank was also very much into his music, and often incorporates music into his dramatic works. He appeared at several clubs and bars in Liverpool as part of the Northern Songwriter’s Showcase, where his music was well received and noted on by judges. He writes his own songs and often records them, Indeed, his last play, Bestbeat, the story of Pete Best in the Beatles was a sell-out when performed across Liverpool and Merseyside in 2019. This brought his love of theatre and music together as he wrote the play and the songs.

Other works from Frank include his drama about the Liverpool Dockers’ strike in the late 1990s. The play, River Of Dreams, again sold out at Unity theatre. Frank remembers “ That was a special experience. Some of my friends worked on the docks at the time when 500 dockers were just sacked by the Dock company. How can that happen? What about their families? I went down to support them on the picket line which was very difficult for the sacked dockers. I eventually brought River Of Dreams to performance with the dockers’ support . It was a proud moment for me as one of my grandads had been a docker. Plus, it was amazing to work with actors such as Eithne Brown, Pauline Daniels and Micky Finn.” Frank has also worked with Margi Clarke in one of his short dramas. Later, a comedy production, called The Pot Of Gold, played to packed houses at Unity also.

Another proud moment was when Frank wrote the screen play for his film Dead Drunk which was shown on BBC TV. The response was such that the film was nominated by the BBC, and it won the Royal Television Society Award for Best Education Drama. As Frank says

“ The Dead Drunk film and experience was like a dream in itself. But that’s why we have dreams in the first place, to try and realise them. From a working class background in Toxteth, here I was now watching film crews, film directors, an exceptionally talented group of Liverpool actors in the cast including Kate Fitzgerald, Michael Starke, Andrew Schofield and Tom Georgeson, filming my script in andaround Liverpool. And to achieve such an award for the film was truly amazing.”

And so we come full circle to his latest play, Once A Blue at Hope Street Theatre beginning a run of 3 nights from 25th April, show starts at 7.30pm and is one we are certainly looking forward to see. For ticket details please check Hope Street Theatre Box Office phone 0344 561 0622 9am –5pm Mon – Fri, and also ticket quarter : customerservice@ticketquarter.co.uk

At present the rehearsals for Once A Blue are going really well with lots of fun amongst the hard work on the script. And we are very happy to have our director, Ellie Thornhill, who is a brilliantly creative Theatre practitioner. Ellie has a superb and experienced cast to work with in Heidi Robinson, Geraldine Judge, Hollie Parker-Price, Michael Lathom, Francis Brack and Mark Reader. So it’s safe to say we are all looking forward to seeing you at The Hope Street Theatre in April.”, Frank told us.

As all Blues fans know “once a blue always a blue!” Frank would like to see as many Blues fans as possible, but as the play is a drama, with humour, it will appeal to a wider audience. It’s not simply a play about football, but many other things besides. Frank says “ Of course, I would be really happy with fellow Everton fans coming along, but I would also be happy to see lots of different people at the play including our Red brothers and sisters from across Stanley Park! The ideas and themes explored in Once A Blue are more or less universal and I think many will identify with the characters. And while we’re at it what about our friends from Prenton Park too? In short, I’d be delighted to see three excellent, entertaining nights at Hope Street Theatre starting on Thursday 25th April at 7.30pm. That will be three nights that we can all enjoy which ever team we support!”