Gerry and Sewell

Aldwych Theatre

Playing until 24^th January 2026

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Photo credit: Von Fox Promotions

{PR Gifted ticket}

Best friends Gerry (Dean Logan) and Sewell (Jack Robertson) have always loved and will always love their favourite football team, Newcastle United. Strapped for cash, the lads go on a mission to secure a pair of season tickets. Capitalising on their individual strengths, the two make use of everything in their arsenal to make enough money to get their hands on their goal, no matter the cost.

This play adapted and directed by Jamie Eastlake highlights the societal austerity faced by the people living in parts of the North East, featuring the hardship there and the importance of dreams to motivate the people who live in daily hardship. The narrative is superbly complemented by the set designed by Richard, Rose and Joe Power, showing a rundown part of Tyneside where the duo grew up.

Although it is common sight to see gentrified areas of town covered in graffiti and street arts, this is not the picture this show is trying to portray. The messy and littered backdrop combined with the various creative elements come together to create a scene that is rough and dangerous, an abandoned and resentful wasteland.

Among the two main characters, Gerry is quick witted and the one that devices much of the duo’s plans. This comes with an abundance of opportunities for Logan to display his stage presence and ability to convey the character’s past and why he is the way he is. Logan manoeuvres Gerry’s character with such delicacy and nuance, stirring up sympathy among the audience. Sewell on the hand takes on a more physical and comedic role, the brawn of the two and lets his actions speak for himself.

The main driving force of Gerry and Sewell is the constant setback faced by the lads. While a powerful message, the tone is already set very early in the show, lacking in a sufficient positive outlook to propel the dreams of the duo. It would have been more powerful to see a shift in the two’s emotions towards the positive for a slightly more extended amount of time before they are then knocked back. Instead, the show felt more like a pendulum swinging constantly between one step forward and two steps back, dampening the emotional impact that it could have achieved.

The audience is shown to other aspects of Gerry’s home life through his interactions with his abusive father (Bill Fellows), encouraging mother (Katherine Dow Blyton) and sisters Claire (Chelsea Halfpenny) and Bridget (Erin Mullen). While the father and mother figures add another layer of complexity to Gerry’s upbringing, the potential of Bridget and Claire aren’t fully realised. Claire’s character in particular adds little to the overall narrative.

Gerry and Sewell is developed with so much heart and emotional rawness, told through the eyes of the people that have lived and breathed the austerity of a neglected area of the country. While a worthwhile and vital story to tell, the current iteration would benefit from greater emotional buildup to amplify the tension and message that it is trying to tell.

Creatives

Based on Jonathan Tulloch’s The Season Ticket

Composer: Aidan Tulloch

“Geordie Nation” Composer: Luke Gaul

Adaptor and Director: Jamie Eastlake

Musical Director: Declan Flannery

Set Design: Richard, Rosie and Joe Power

Movement and Choreography: Lucy Marie Curry, Sean Moon

Puppet Design and Maker: Georgia Hill

Lighting Design: Drummond Orr

Sound Design: Stuart Middleton