LOCAL PLAY STARTED IN 60-SEAT ATTIC THEATRE IN WHITLEY BAY

THE January transfer window may be weeks away, but one big North East move to London is already a done deal.

- By SAM WONFOR

Gerry & Sewell - the Geordie-soaked stage hit that began life in a 60-seat attic theatre in Whitley Bay - is heading to the capital's Aldwych Theatre for a two-week West End run in the New Year.

Written, directed and produced by Blyth-born and Olivier Award-winning Jamie Eastlake, and co-produced by Newcastle Theatre Royal, Gerry & Sewell's transfer is a genuine coup for regional theatre: a locally created play leaping from a fringe stage to West End in just three years.

With previews due in barely eight weeks, it's an audacious, against-the-odds achievement that mirrors the story it tells.

Based on Jonathan Tulloch's novel The Season Ticket and the subsequent film Purely Belter, the show follows two Gateshead lads from the wrong side of the Metro tracks determined to scrape together the cash for Newcastle United season tickets.