Wagatha play won't punch down at Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney, writer says

"The Wagatha Christie lawsuit has mystery, suspense and breached friendships - each the ingredients for a large drama," says Liv Hennessy, whose West End play is based connected the High Court clash.

Love it oregon hatred it, the quality betwixt Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney captured galore headlines earlier this year.

It arguably offering airy alleviation to audiences weary of proceeding astir warfare successful Ukraine, Covid, the heatwave and politics.

"Wagatha felt similar a existent water-cooler infinitesimal successful the UK, which I deliberation is rather uncommon now," playwright Hennessy, a erstwhile communicative shaper for ITV soap opera Emmerdale, says.

The proceedings was dubbed "Wagatha Christie" - a notation to some women arsenic footballers' wives and girlfriends (Wags), and Agatha Christie, the writer celebrated for her whodunit mysteries.

Following her 2019 Instagram sting operation, Mrs Rooney dramatically accused Mrs Vardy, connected societal media, of leaking backstage stories astir her to the Sun.

Mrs Rooney is expected to receive an estimated £1.5m from Mrs Vardy towards ineligible costs.

Hennessy says her play, Vardy v Rooney: The Wagatha Christie Trial, captures a infinitesimal successful clip - exploring what is backstage and what public.

"This lawsuit couldn't person happened 10 years ago, and it astir apt won't hap successful 10 years, due to the fact that media instrumentality is catching up with however we run connected societal media each day," she says.

"The play questions what we inquire of our nationalist figures, and whether we judge they should behave with integrity - which is just capable if you're a politician, idiosyncratic precise precocious up.

"But it becomes murkier erstwhile you're a social-media influencer, oregon you're 'fame adjacent', but you person societal media.

"When you commencement to monetise nationalist trust, and get wealth for your Instagram posts, we benignant of person a close to cognize whether we tin spot you oregon not."

Before putting pen to paper, Hennessy spent a fortnight wading done 1,200 pages of transcripts, bought by the play's producers.

This wasn't a hardship though - she had already been "glued to the case", pursuing it via WhatsApp groups and Twitter and taking peculiar delight astatine immoderate of the memes.

"I travel from soap, truthful I'm utilized to very, precise choky deadlines, moving nether utmost unit and uncovering the story," Hennessy says.

"It suited my accomplishment acceptable - but it's been a ride."

She besides consulted radical with the indispensable ineligible knowledge, "to marque definite I nailed it".

The play is simply a portion of verbatim theatre - erstwhile its characters speak, they usage real-life words.

Director Lisa Spirling, who approached Hennessy to constitute the play, knew the format could work.

"Nicholas Kent did a immense magnitude of plays based connected trials [and inquiries] astatine London's Tricycle Theatre, truthful we knew it had been done before", she says.

Both women are wide astir what struck them astir the Vardy-Rooney proceedings - and what they chose to avoid.

Hennessy stresses she is not trying to belittle the women, arguably best-known for being footballers' wives.

"You could deliberation we're punching down astatine radical who don't recognize the ineligible system, we're going to laughter astatine them," she says.

"That's not what this play is about."

Instead, what truly came crossed speechmaking the transcripts was "they some are incredibly intelligent women, who navigate a ineligible strategy - astir of america would beryllium precise confused", Hennessy says.

"They're truthful self-possessed, they're confident, they grip it," she says.

Spirling admits being initially "quite snobby" astir the case, until the play's producer, London Theatre Society president Eleanor Lloyd, persuaded her to deliberation again and research the issues raised.

She agreed, and realised it had immense imaginable arsenic a play. And she is not unsocial successful this - Channel 4 is besides making a docudrama astir the case.

"I was asking, 'Are we pulling down 2 working-class women, oregon 2 women successful a concern who hap to beryllium precise rich?" Spirling says, connected however the women could beryllium portrayed.

But her "hackles went up" astatine the "patriarchy of everyone calling them Wags the full time".

Former sports writer Alison Kervin, who landed a three-book woody successful the 2000s to constitute novels starring Wags, told the Times recently: "I hatred the word Wag.

"The full 'Wag' civilization infantilised women," she said. "They were seen arsenic the beauteous hangers-on.

"Girls nary longer privation to beryllium conscionable wives oregon girlfriends. As we've seen this summer, women are capable to play shot excessively - and really win."

Spirling besides recovered a transportation with the case.

"I'm from Lancashire originally, and galore of my (male) friends are nonrecreational footballers," she says. "A bizarre magnitude were from my section school.

"To spot those boys spell connected that travel and person excessively overmuch money, beryllium excessively celebrated excessively young, and what that does to you - to beryllium surviving that life, arsenic those guys person for 20 years -the exhaustion of that, and however you support it, and for the women alongside it.

"So I conscionable I felt similar I knew that world."

And aft a "deep dive into what radical were warring for" successful the tribunal case, she concluded "it's estimation and power of their narrative... Instagram is simply a mode of individuals taking backmost control".

One dependable missing from the proceedings was that of Caroline Watt, Mrs Vardy's person and agent.

A advisor forensic psychiatrist produced a study concluding she was unfit to springiness oral evidence.

But she is featured successful the play.

"What Liv has done extraordinarily good is to find a mode to bring Caroline into the room," Spirling says.

"So you person a consciousness of her, partially due to the fact that of truthful galore WhatsApp messages, but besides successful the beingness of that person.

"She's the 1 we're not talking about, wherever you go, 'That is idiosyncratic that's mislaid their job, who wasn't successful the nationalist eye, who intelligibly this has been incredibly distressing for, and important and troubling... it feels truly important."

Hennessey besides includes shot pundits connected stage, who remark connected the enactment successful court, positive enactment replays.

She won't divulge which memorable moments from the tribunal lawsuit are featured but says: "I don't deliberation radical volition beryllium disappointed."

The accumulation started retired arsenic a one-night-only show but has been extended aft request for tickets.

"We privation to springiness radical a large nighttime out," Spirling says. "The satellite is beauteous pugnacious close now.

"This play perfectly has conversations astir economics and fame and personage - and it volition springiness radical a spot of escapism."

Vardy v Rooney: The Wagatha Christie Trial is astatine London's Wyndham's Theatre connected 15, 22 and 29 November, 6, 13 and 20 December and 10 January.