Play celebrates life of English soccer great Dean
LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Eighty years to the day after he wrote his name into English soccer folklore, centre forward Dixie Dean's remarkable career is being celebrated in a new play opening in Liverpool.
‘The Dixie Dean Story' recalls the life and times of the Everton striker, whose record of 60 league goals in a season has stood for eight decades and is unlikely to be beaten.
The play was written by Dean's biographer John Keith, a Liverpool-based journalist, broadcaster and author and will be performed for the first time on May 5 and 6 at the northern city's Crosby Civic Theatre.
It was on May 5 1928 that Dean's hat-trick in the season's final game against Arsenal secured his place in history, surpassing the 59-goal mark set by Middlesbrough's George Camsell 12 months earlier.
Keith had previously written a play about Liverpool manager Bill Shankly which featured three ex-players on the stage. He describes the Dean play, produced with the support of the Everton shareholders' association, as "more ambitious".
A two-man production, Keith will narrate the footballer's story as actor Steve Hazlehurst, who was born in Dean's home town of Birkenhead close to Liverpool, brings different scenes to life in the role of the great centre-forward.
Famed for his heading ability, Dean fractured his skull in a motorcycle accident in 1926 but recovered to become one of English football's greatest strikers, helping Everton win two league championships and the FA Cup.
Keith said: "If you invented the story, people would dismiss it because he had this life-threatening motorcycle accident when not only his football career but his life was in jeopardy. But within months he was heading the ball again."
Besides recalling his on-field achievements, Keith added he was keen to show Dean's personality. "Dixie, apart from being a great player, had a great sense of humor, great timing - he used to deliver lines as well as he headed balls," he said.
The 90-minute production covers Dean's life from a childhood growing up on the other side of the River Mersey via his sporting fame with Everton and England to his twilight years.
Keith was with Dean when he died at Goodison Park on March 1, 1980, having invited him to attend a Merseyside derby.
Explaining Dean's enduring appeal, Keith added:
"About three years ago the local radio and Liverpool Echo had a vox pop poll to find the greatest Merseysider and amazingly Dixie Dean won, which is staggering when you have people like the Beatles and Ken Dodd and Shankly.
"He was a superstar before the word was invented. He transcends the game he played -- just like Shankly and (Manchester United winger) George Best do. He was the original.
(Editing by Keith Weir)
