REVIEW: Gerry & Sewell at Newcastle Theatre Royal

Gerry & Sewell

Newcastle Theatre Royal

Until Saturday 5 October 2024

The tale about two Gateshead Lads who, despite their lack of funds, want to get hold of season tickets in order to see their heroes play at St James Park is back on stage. Jonathan Tulloch's The Season Ticket has already had a movie and a stage adaptation before, but this show has genuine authentic grittiness rather than feeling like voyeuristic punching down. It has made the move from Laurels fringe stage in Whitley Bay, via Live Theatre, to a full blown production at a major theatre.

Dean Logan and Jack Robertson reprise their roles as the lovable pair Gerry and Sewell. A couple of cheeky chappies who did not get any luck from the lottery of life, They strive, they take chances. Where there's muck, there's brass and these two will life a take to get fed or a toilet if they think they can get a few quid. Their ultimate aim is to have enough money to obtain a pair of season tickets for Newcastle United. For this to work as a piece of theatre, these two characters have to get the audience on their side - we have to care for them and want success for them. Fortunately this is the case here as there is real heart in the way they are portrayed.

The show is set in 2019 - the final year of Mike Ashley's ownership and Steve Bruce as manager. Whilst there is chaos at the club, the fans make their pilgrimage up the hill to see their team and to belong to the club. This element of belonging is examined here by director Jamie Eastlake. Can the club replace the vacuum left behind by a dysfunctional family unit? Dean Logan's Gerry in particular, gets into this question. His interaction with his parents, performed by Bill Ward and Michelle Heaton, adds to the void in his life. It is as much about the non-verbal signals from Heaton's character or the assuredness of Ward's that adds as much as any dialogue to the tale. Gerry's sister Bridget (Erin Mullen) has a small part to play though it is her absence that is clearly on Gerry's mind.

The original novel has been sent to stage and screen before but this version has deep Geordie roots. It knows where it is coming from. The dialect, the humour and the local references are deeply rooted in the region's DNA rather than what an outsider feels is the case. Nice little touches to the set include a couple of graffiti tags that proliferated the bridges and walls of the north east.

The scaling up is always going to be a challenge. It doesn't always work. I remember one of my all time favourite Live Theatre shows struggling to keep any of the intensity when it transferred to a big stage tour that included the Theatre Royal. Gerry & Sewell, however, has made the big leap up in style. The metro now moves and is still the source of some of the jokes. I love the fact that Jack Robertson is so comfortable in his character that he appears to improvise occasionally as the metro is late or the doors may not have quite worked as planned.

We now have a bigger ensemble cast who dance and deliver props. They add the the flow of the emotion and give that sense of scale that this show benefits from.

Another role reprised is that of "almost every other speaking part/narration/puppetry" is still handled by the superbly talented Becky Clayburn, who not only never misses a beat as flies up and down this bigger set, she also adds much to the humour.

Whilst the scaling and the use of a bigger ensemble are new - the core beating heart of the show - Logan/Robertson/Clayburn is still a finely tuned machine. They make the audience want their characters to have that moment of luck against the odds. Gateshead may be a place where the river is the colour of concrete and the concrete is the shade of the river but it is a community. From the eccentrics to the hopeful, the cast bring it alive.

I enjoyed it a lot - and as regular readers will have picked up over the years - Newcastle are not my team (don't worry - neither are that Wearside lot!)

It is a real shame that this show is on such a short run. It was full on opening night and the audience clearly loved it in the stalls where I was sat. This is a fun show at times, challenging at other, that has a core message about the Geordie nation. It offers hope - and that's what people need right now.

Review: Stephen Oliver

Photos: Von Fox

Tickets: Gerry & Sewell plays Newcastle Theatre Royal during Oct 2024. Tickets can be purchased at www.theatreroyal.co.uk or from the Theatre Royal Box Office on 0191 232 7010.