Best

Dynamic and fast paced dance theatre performance which interprets the life of a football genius.

BEST spans a 40-year period and leads the audience through George Best's many loves, highs, lows and triumphs. The performance refers to the music, fashion, design and movement style of the various eras and is inspired by letters, photographs and Best's 1998 autobiography Bestie alongside selected football highlights of his career.

CHOREOGRAPHER NOTE

Best is a true sporting hero for me, both growing up as a young man in Dundee, and today.

Best’s game combined a unique pace,acceleration and balance that resonates in dance. These qualities combined with his innate goal scoring and defending abilities, made him one of the greatest footballers of all time.

The one recurring image has continually struck me is Best, waiting to come out of the dressing rooms at Windsor Park for his testimonial performance, listening to the crowd cheering and chanting his name. As he stands and waits he recalls all that has passed to bring him to this moment...

COMPOSER NOTE

The idea behind the score was to take tracks released in the years 1948, 1958, 1968, 1978 and 1988 that said something to me about Best, not Best at that time but something that contained the essence of my perception of him. From these tracks I wrote pieces, some as reworking of tracks and others with separate but with a similar feel.  The commentary and interview extracts grew organically with the music, sometimes a point in the music suggested a commentary and that in turn lead to a development in the music.  All in all I have tried to capture the magic of the man on the field and the joy I had in watching him play and the dignity I see in his legacy which is evident in all the footage of him playing.