Flags out as ‘Geordie to its core’ hit play to return

GEORDIE pals who just can't get enough of Newcastle United will strike a chord with pretty much everyone in the area so it's no surprise that the theme of a black-and-white themed play with Toon passion at its heart has proved such a success with audiences.

- BARBARA HODGSON

Gerry & Sewell, by local Olivier Award-winning writer-director Jamie Eastlake, was a hit at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle last autumn - so much so that it has just announced a return run.

The play will be back at the city theatre next summer and it promises: “It’s going to be bigger, better and more black and white than ever!”

When audiences took their seats for its first sellout run at the Theatre Royal last October - where it earned top reviews - they were surrounded by black and white flags to whip up the atmosphere.

Courtesy of Wor Flags, they captured the mood of the story - an adaptation of Jonathan Tulloch’s novel The Season Ticket, the book which inspired 2000 film Purely Belter ~ which tells of two football mad lads desperate to get their hands on a pair of Newcastle United season tickets.