Newcastle is ready for a 'Madchester' cultural movement, says Gerry and Sewell director

It has been a meteoric rise for the show since it started at a local North Tyneside theatre, and the upcoming run of shows in the city centre are expected to raise put the production to levels not yet seen.

The show will be taking place over six performances from Wednesday, October 2 until Saturday, October 5 and director Jamie Eastlake is promising a show to remember.

“It’s mad” explains Eastlake. “Scaling it up has been the challenge, but also been the most exciting part of it. It started in a tiny little room in Whitley Bay and we expanded to go to live theatre.

“We’ve expanded, we’ve had 45 members of a community ensemble and dancers and big musical numbers. It’s still the simple storytelling about the boy’s story, but then there’s these moments of absolute heightened chaos and magic.”

Gerry and Sewell tells the story of two Gateshead based Newcastle United fans desperate for season tickets, despite the economic conditions they find themselves in.

It was first told in Jonathan Tulloch’s iconic book The Season Ticket, released in 2002. It was the basis for the 2000 comedy film Purely Belter.

“The city and the region want to hear Gerry and Sewell’s story again. Because it’s such an iconic story and one which has been told in different ways through the novel and the film.

“I think it appeals to so many people, they understand the characters, they understand their frustrations.”

The play has come at a time when Newcastle United are enjoying their best run of seasons for decades, a rise since the 2021 takeover which has coincided with the success of the play.

“I have this real opinion that the city is on the verge of a 90s Manchester sort of feel, you know, what Manchester did with its football and its music” says Eastlake.

“I think Newcastle is doing something very similar at the moment with Sam Fender and the DJ scene and the club finally getting its people and performing on the pitch.

“You then have Fulwell over in Sunderland, the region feels like it’s on this upward movement and the play went on that movement.

“It’s set the year before the takeover so you see the apathy played out and, I won’t give away the ending, but it ends in a happier place for Newcastle United!

“The only thing some people have is their football club and their community and what that represents.

“It’s such an integral part of people’s lives and I think that’s part of the importance of Gerry and Sewell - in their heads that’s the only way they can move up the social ladder because they have no other ways of getting opportunities so getting into St James Park, maybe that’s the way they meet someone.”

It is a whole culture, sport, and what it represents in terms of what the football club means, what the theatre means, what the music scene means, it’s all part of this big jigsaw puzzle.

“When we’re covering topics which cover things like the football club, being in a theatre it makes a lot of sense, there’s synergy.”

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Eastlake adds: “The thing the club didn’t understand for so many years was the way you can engage with more audiences and more fans is by looking outside of the box and looking at who’s making work in the area, whether that be artists or community projects.

“If all these organisations realise cities can be stronger when we’re all aligned and moving together, it’s just a good thing for everybody.”

Part of this movement comes from Wor Flags, who as well as using fan led and fan designed displays across St James Park, are also part of the run of shows.

“They’re amazing” says Eastlake. “It’s beyond belief the work they do to deliver what they do.

The run of shows start this Wednesday, with tickets for every event selling quickly. These can be brought through the Theatre Royal’s website.