Manchester / Madchester ~ The Musical

our vision – Is to bring to life onstage to all that is wonderful and real about
Madchester. The city’s rebirth for all things creative, catapulting Manchester onto
the global stage. Our great musicians, artists, and their unique style and attitude,
together with Manchester United and Manchester City, put the city on the world map .
The MADCHESTER musical theatre show will tell the story of an Irish immigrant family
and two of their descendants. Anthony and Christopher Donnelly, aka The Donnelly
Brothers, and their family growing up in 90s Madchester, showcasing the ups and downs
of Manchester life and beyond.

Our creative ambition is to tour the show from regional to national theatres, then
overseas in countries where there is huge demand for anything Manchester/Madchester .
The brothers were born and raised on the tough streets of 70s and 80s Manchester, in
the notorious Benchill, on the vast Wythenshawe estate, in and around scrap metal
yards, surrounded football and music stars of the day including George Best, Stan
Bowles, Buzzcocks, Joy Division, the Smiths and New Order. They were on the inside at
the legendary Factory Records through their elder sister Tracey. The Donnelly
Brothers found fame as creators of one of the world’s leading international
streetwear brands.
Their story has been referred to as one of the most astonishing stories in the
history of the rag trade. Vivienne Westwood called them ambassadors for a generation.
Gio-Goi became a worldwide hit at the height of the Madchester phenomenon. The label
has been modelled by Rihanna, Kate Moss, Amy Winehouse, Liam Gallagher, Idris Alba,
Wu-Tang Clan, Robbie Williams, Calvin Harris, Plan B, Deadmau5, Rhys Ifans, Kid Rock,
Stephen Graham, Damien Hirst, Leo Gregory, Howard Marks, Dynamo, Ed Sheeran, The
Libertines, Arctic Monkeys, Lily Allen, Nigel Benn, Johnny Marr & many more stars on
international platforms across the globe. it still going strong to date,
collaborating on a range for the official Man City FC 2021/2 called MDCR and
in2023 launching a new range in collaboration with Umbro.

The Donnelly Brother’s journey from the cobbled streets of Manchester to the front
cover of Vogue is a rags-to-riches journey with plenty of Manchester grit.
Culturally, the production tells how a collective of like-minded friends and
colleagues turned Manchester into Madchester, made the cover of Time magazine and
took over the pop charts: Fools Gold by Stone Roses, Wrote For Luck by Happy Mondays
and the Acid House mega-hit, Voodoo Ray by A Guy Called Gerald, plus Pacific State by
808 State)* It was a scene that ended in a rain of bullets after a glorious almost
two year run in the sunshine, a scene that begat Britpop and Oasis and is still
celebrated today, an everlasting window into Manchester’s munificence. Madchester The
Musical will be a celebration of our great city and all our great music and culture.

The Supremes - Stoned Love

ACT 1 – Setting the scene
The play starts off with the stage in darkness and the poem.

In My Mind I Go
May the wind always be at your back son,
The embrace of a father bidding farewell to his only surviving son,
The raw emotion of leaving our loved ones behind in our homeland,
Faced with no other, choice, option, or alternative,
A deep sadness as the gaze falls upon the child,
Turmoil and anguish have pulled at these souls,
To stay and fight for this that is our birth right,
That, that is just,
Facing certain hunger, starvation or a fate that is worse,
A fate that has be-fallen many before,
No not many, millions,
Millions of my kinfolk,
The sons and daughters of Eire,
The children who have suffered at the hands of the crown,
The establishment that has created a great divide,
Now we must cross that divide,
To a foreign land,
Looking to the future with a rebellious optimism,
May the wind always be at your back son,
The words rang in my head,
But there was no wind today and the crossing was long,
Behind me lay conspicuous Kingston, the Kilkenny Hills and Dublin Bay,
I glanced over my shoulder, as the son rose to meet us and the Emerald Isle
bade us farewell, The
guilt of leaving was deep within my mind,
Brought to awareness by the cry of a hungry child,
And I remember the innocents of a nation,
A nation that has been plundered, ravaged and starved,
A nation of mothers and fathers with broken hearts,
No, now we must do what is needed to survive,
To keep my hungry children alive.
The Smiths - How Soon is Now?
• Back stage lights up with images of boats arriving at Liverpool
Docs. Seamus Donnelly arrives from Ireland in the mid 1800s with his family.
There is no work to be had and with too much time on his hands starts getting
into pub brawls. He is the father of 10 Children, 7 boys and 3 girls.

• Seamus moves his family to Shrewsbury where he finds work, but his family are
dispersed through social circumstances. The youngest of the family is James-
Michael Donnelly who is 12 years old and taken in by a stone mason who for the
next 5 years is father figure and tutor to him, teaching him his trade. When
James-Michael is in his late teens he gets into a bar brawl and seriously injures a
man, he moves to Manchester and uses the name Tony Donnelly

• He meets Ellen Flannigan who also hails from back home and now lives in
Manchester, they have 7 kids, Louise, Anne, Claire, Marie, James, Johnny and
Arthur. Jimmy Meets Rita, Johnny meets Margaret and Arthur meets June
The brothers Arthur, Jimmy and Johnny become respected figures (the Boys are
Back in Town is written about them). Arthur is in and out of the nick trying to
support June and the kids.

• Jump forward: Anthony and Christopher are young teenagers, wise beyond
their years. Chris joins Anthony and they become notorious T-shirt bootleggers
and flash dressers. A lot can be taken from the book at this point
Tracey is working at Factory Records and The Hacienda is growing in popularity

• Anthony and Chris are on tour with U2, bootlegging merchandise and tickets
It’s Anthony’s 21st on the 9th, February 1986

• Anthony and Christopher are on the wrong path they kick in the doors of the
Hacienda nightclub with dire consequences

• 11th February Tracey gets called into Tony Wilson’s office and gets laid off

The Stone - Roses Fools Gold

 These Kids
Ask yourself this question
Did you do wrong on purpose
Or did you think that wrong was right

Cos that’s the question I ask myself when I’m lay in bed at night

That sneaky dig, that slapped up kid, the hearts so carelessly broken Are these questions locked

away inside or have these words been spoken?

This is about the choices we make in pursuit of personal pleasure Ponder this at a later stage

Peruse upon at your leisure

Have I been good?
Have I been bad? Is the bottom line
Cos when stood at the gates of heaven
The big man knows every crime

This is for the kids from the council estates who grew up in big red houses
For kids who’d die for their closest mates even if those mates were scousers

For kids whose lives when children was far from beds of roses Cos growing up the way these kids

grew up

was tougher than the average man supposes

For kids who’d bend the rules & then set those rules on alight

For kids who’ve climbed a different mountain every single night Kids not scared to take a chance,

kids not scared to take a risk

But would stand in silence respectfully at important times like this

For kids whom the most important person in this world will always be your mam And up there

side by side is your Mrs. & your sister cos they also understand
For kids who lived off tea & toast, kebabs & chippy teas,
But now eat pasta, sushi, teriyaki, vitamins & drink green tea

For kids who never went to mass

For kids who never went confession
Never listened to their mams and dads
They learned from their own lessons

And for kids who know the most beautiful girls that you have ever seen Were born in Baguley,

Benchill, Woodhouse Park and Newall Green

For kids who spent their summers on the top diving board at Sharston baths And watch grown
men fill their speedos while you just stood and laughed Or chased Wythy girls
Wind attendants up when they’d ask you to leave the pool
Cos you weren’t being taken for a swim

Happy Mondays - Wrote For Luck

 You were no-one’s fool
For kids with the best musical taste

So broad
So cool so top

Pistols, Roses, Marvin Gaye, Chic & Luther Vandross

For kids who’d groove at Brewster’s, rave at the Hacienda

And would be the last men on the dance floor whenever on a weekend bender For kids who
love

their clothes and cherish their latest trainers

For kids born in the greatest city on earth even if sometimes it’s raining Kids who love to
journey

and kids who love their sport

Who love to visit fashionable shops when travelling abroad

Kids who talk all-nasal and walk with a massive swagger
For kids who aren’t really all that bad they’re just honest northern Blaggers
To kids who beam a special love but don’t use that word too frequent
For kids who when you look deep down, you’ll see these kids are decent
Branded bandits, ravers & drug dealers do these kids really deserve this?
When the villainy raves and all the dealing provided us with a great service

So, when we’re all up there dancing, singing, drinking

And wearing clothes we think are great

These kids are simply loving & looking after their large expanse of mates

And half the things these kids have done

We're not done for the money but for the laugh

And to prove to others that they’re cheekier naughtier and funnier than the average lad So
when

stood at the gates and explaining yourself to the big man up above
He’ll understand that this is how These Kids express your love

A Guy Called Gerald - Voodoo Ray

STORY CONTINUES:

• Tony Wilson’s office @ Factory records, Tracey is called back in to get

reinstated in her job, part of the conversation is ‘Tell your brothers I want to
see them’
• Tony Wilson starts to mentor the boys.
• 1988 Anthony has a meeting with Tony Wilson on the roof of the Hacienda
where he is asked to do merchandise for the Happy Mondays – it’s the
Donnelly Brothers’ first official job – and Wilson guides them in a new
direction - ‘baggy’ street fashion.
• 1989 Gio Goi is launched.
MANCHESTER IS SET TO BECOME CULTURAL CAPITALOF THE WORLD.

Project Collaborators and Directors

Anthony & Christopher Donnelly Executive Producers

Nick Alt - Playwright/Production
Irvine Welsh - Consultant
Dean Cavanagh - Consultant
Dawn Izat – Consultant/ Business Development
Anthony Donnelly - Marketing
Christopher Donnelly - Stylist/Wardrobe
Simon Spence – Consultant Editor

Oasis - Rock 'N' Roll Star

Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye