'Gerry & Sewell' review — this Newcastle-set football drama tackles friendship, fandom and the beautiful game

Read our review of Jamie Eastlake's play Gerry & Sewell, now in performances at the Aldwych Theatre to 24 January.

Summary

• Jamie Eastlake's play Gerry & Sewell makes its West End premiere at the Aldwych Theatre
• The story centres the titular pair of Newcastle United football fans
• Stars Dean Logan and Jack Robertson have a believable lived-in chemistry

When Jamie Eastlake’s play Gerry & Sewell (based a novel by Jonathan Tulloch, which became the film Purely Belter) was first performed at Whitely Bay’s Laurel Theatre in 2022, it was in a 60-seat venue with a cast of three. A community ensemble was added for the transfer to the 170-seat Live Theatre, and at Theatre Royal Newcastle, the main cast was doubled to six.

The West End premiere at the 1,200-seat Aldwych Theatre features a cast of eight named roles, five “Hooligans”, and 17 “supernumeraries”, and the running time is swollen to almost two and a half hours. Sadly, it’s a case of bigger not always being better and the piece feeling bloated rather than effectively expanded.

It’s a loud, laddish, sweary and scatological work about two football-loving young men, the titular Gerry and Sewell, who are modest in their expectations about their limited futures, but the one thing that would really improve their lives would be Newcastle United season tickets. When mudlarking proves unprofitable, they begin dealing in stolen goods. Gerry (Dean Logan) is small, wiry, and the brains (as it is) of the operation, while Sewell (Jack Robertson) is tall, sturdy, none too bright, and would do anything for junk food (a bit like a Tyneside Smithy from Gavin & Stacey). The pair have a lived-in chemistry and, in the rare quieter moments, we can start to grasp the futility of their situations.

There’s no doubt that things are gritty and grim in Gerry-and-Sewell-land with an effectively grotty set design by Power Props (Richard, Rosie and Joe Power), in which hoardings representing Newcastle’s St. James’s Park and rival Sunderland’s Stadium of Light are placed within a junkyard. There’s some light relief along the way with the cute and expressive puppets (by Georgia Hill) representing an inquisitive terrier and a black cat (Sunderland’s mascot) that gives as good as it gets.

Written and directed by Eastlake, it’s less of a play than a hectic series of sketches that’s hard to take seriously as a comedy or a tragedy. The supporting characters are all two-dimensional. Gerry’s mother (Katherine Dow Blyton) has mental health problems and a history of suicide attempts; his father (Bill Fellows) is abusive and an alcoholic; sister Claire (Chelsea Halfpenny) is a single mum and aspiring musician, and his other sister Bridget (Erin Mullen) has run away from home. There are numerous other caricatured cameos and many of the lines get lost due to the frantic pace. The best zinger is Sewell being asked why he has a perm and responding, “It’s a flashback scene”.

The city’s love of Newcastle United is what ought to unite the piece, though that too feels scattered. As the proceedings draw to a close, the Toon Army celebrates as Sports Direct tycoon Mike Ashley is booted out as owner, but the fact that the new proprietors are a Saudi Arabian conglomerate is glossed over – it isn’t like they set a more ethical example or will take any more of an interest in the community.

Everyone enjoys an underdog story and it’s hard not to root for a grassroots show to take on the West End but, while the Tyneside productions were praised for the show’s heart, that’s got lost along the way by treating it as an overextended parade of turns. Alas, it certainly doesn’t do anything to challenge stereotypes of everything being grim and miserable Up North.

Gerry & Sewell is at the Aldwych Theatre to 24 January. Book Gerry & Sewell tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Photo credit: Gerry & Sewell (Photos by Von Fox Promotions)