Hello Georgie, Goodbye Best

‘Hello Georgie, Goodbye Best’ is a reimagining of the turbulent weekend footballing legend George Best spent in the Islington flat of Irish actress and intimate friend, Sinead Cusack, in 1971.

George, who was dropped from Man United for missing training, unbeknownst to anyone journeyed to London regardless and paid a visit to Sinead Cusack. The play looks at the time spent in her flat and their relationship, which was put under great strain after George’s whereabouts were discovered and hordes of press and adoring fans mobbed the flat, entrapping them both there for three days.

Although a great deal is known about Best, ‘the footballer with magic in his boots but a self-destruct button in his soul’, people can only guess at what really happened inside the flat. For George, who was football’s first ever major icon, known as The Fifth Beatle, see an insight into his ‘fish-bowl’ lifestyle, only one year before he quit professional football as it all became too much.

Through Sinead, realize the tragedy of George’s life; while she is an actress on her way up, he is a footballer on his way out far too long before his time. ‘Hello Georgie, Goodbye Best’ offers a candid lens depicting what happens when you take two young adults out of Ireland and violently expose them to publicity.