The rivalry between Newcastle and Sunderland, as I strongly suspect I have pointed out before in this publication, stretches at least as far back as the English Civil War, when Newcastle largely sided with the King and Sunderland supported Oliver Cromwell and the parliamentarians. The central characters in this show – the title is a giveaway – are based in Gateshead, which has its own football club, but they are fiercely loyal to Newcastle United FC. It is with some surprise, therefore, that a sign for Sunderland’s Stadium of Light is writ large on stage, and even more surprising, to those who follow football, that a poster for an event advertising An Evening with Kevin Keegan appears in later scenes underneath the Stadium of Light sign – and not underneath the St James’ Park sign on the other side of the stage.
Anyway, it would be a mistake to think this show was entirely about football – one does not need an intricate knowledge of the so-called ‘beautiful game’ to understand proceedings in this deeply rooted show, but it could have done with a glossary. I thought of the one the London production of Billy Elliot the Musical had in their programme some years ago. Story-wise, it’s more ‘Gerry’ than ‘Sewell’, with more detail about the former’s family and how it functions – or, to be more precise, how it doesn’t.
The production is deliberately difficult to define – part jukebox musical (with modified lyrics to suit the narrative), part coming of age story, and part meta theatre. The last of these was what I enjoyed the most: the show never takes itself too seriously, as though it knows it is now effectively competing, for the short time it is in the West End, with the likes of The Phantom of the Opera and “that Peruvian bear down the road” (that is, Paddington the Musical). The use of a flashback scene and, separately, a freeze frame, was gloriously satirised.
In its scaling up from its first incarnation in a pub theatre to a West End proscenium arch playhouse (there have been several iterations of the show in between), the intimacy of scenes in front rooms and go-to hideaway places is rather lost. The problem is compounded by the front room scenes taking place downstage right instead of downstage centre, leaving a large amount of unused performance space.
Having made a kind reference to the long residency of Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, which previously played in the same theatre, the choice to describe rather than dramatise some of the darker elements of the narrative is very different from that other show. While it would have been uncomfortable to watch, it would have provided more dramatic tension than merely telling the audience, sometimes in very general terms, what went on. By way of example, a cliffhanger scene involving a dog provoked audible gasps – even though the ‘dog’ in question, inverted commas mine, was clearly a puppet.
Somewhat surprisingly for something revised and expanded for the London stage, the final scene felt rushed through. The play’s timeline starts in 2019 and ends with the 2021 takeover of Newcastle United FC by a consortium: Gerry (Dean Logan), Sewell (Jack Robertson) and the rest of the cast (there are a large number of supernumeraries) seemed happy to see the back of Mike Ashley, the club’s previous owner – some supporters had wanted him gone as early as 2008, following Keegan’s resignation in September of that year. Looking from the outside in, it seems a little odd that no reservations were expressed about the Saudi-led takeover, but ultimately that consortium did have the support of the vast majority of fans at the time.
Not so much leaning into but fully embracing the ‘it’s grim up North’ stereotype, it could have been a tight one-act show rather than a padded-out two-act production – there’s another show ‘down the road’, Six, that continues to do very well and tells its story in seventy-five minutes. Still, it has some laugh-out-loud moments and a committed cast. But really, the bit at the beginning with large flags distributed to the audience and being waved about, would have been better if it were done at the end as a celebratory climax. Initial jubilation followed by an examination of the injustices and struggles experienced by the marginalised in society was too discombobulating, even for an unassuming West End audience.
Review by Chris Omaweng
Gerry and Sewell live in Gateshead. They’ve got nothing – except a dream. A season ticket to their beloved football club. But after years of austerity and watching their team sold off by a southern businessman more interested in merchandise than matches, life’s tough. Until they decide they’re getting those season tickets, whatever it takes. And once they’ve got their mission, nothing’s going to stop them – except maybe a few dodgy dealers, the social, and the odd madcap scrap merchant.
Dean Logan – Gerry
Jack Robertson – Sewell
Becky Clayburn – Brabin
Erin Mullen – Bridget McCarten
Bill Fellows – Mr McCarten
Katherine Dow Blyton – Mrs McCarten
Chelsea Halfpenny – Claire McCarten
Matty Renton – Journo
Carly Burns, Helen Chong, Dylan Duffy, Alicia Meehan, Kyle Potter – Hooligans
Written and directed by Jamie Eastlake
Adapted from The Season Ticket by Jonathan Tulloch
Rosie Bowden and James Callàs Ball – Associate Directors
Lucy Marie Curry and Sean Moon – Movement and Choreographer
Declan Flannery – Musical Director
Aidan Tulloch – Composer
Luke Gaul – ‘Geordie Nation’ Composer
Georgia Hill – Puppet Design and Maker
Richard, Rosie and Joe Power – Set Design
Drummond Orr – Lighting Design
Stuart Middleton – Sound Design
GERRY & SEWELL
Aldwych Theatre
13 to 24 January 2026
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