Casting announced for GERRY & SEWELL at Newcastle Theatre Royal
Photo credit: Meg Jepson
Gerry & Sewell, Olivier award-winning Jamie Eastlake’s adaptation based on Jonathan Tulloch’s novel The Season Ticket and the cult Geordie film Purely Belter, is set to run at Newcastle Theatre Royal from 2-5 October, following sold out performances at Laurels and Live Theatre.
Blyth-born Eastlake is bringing together a stellar cast brimming with North East talent. Multi award-winning actor Bill Ward (Coronation Street, Emmerdale) stars as Mr McCarten opposite BRIT award winner, actress and campaigner Michelle Heaton as Mrs McCarten.
They are set to join original cast members Dean Logan and Jack Robertson who will be reprising their roles as the wayward Gerry and Sewell, as well as Becky Clayburn who will be playing Tyneside when the three make their Theatre Royal debuts this Autumn.
The iconic Grey Street venue will be familiar territory for one cast member. Erin Mullen (The Last Breath, Midsomer Murders) makes her return to Newcastle Theatre Royal having been a member of the first ever cohort of students at Project A – the theatre’s full time in-house actor training course – and is relishing making her first professional appearance on its stage in the role of Bridget McCarten.
Gerry & Sewell follows the fortunes of two Gateshead lads who have nothing but a dream of securing season tickets to follow their beloved Newcastle United. But after years of living in austerity and seeing their football club shelled out by a cockney bloke who sells sports tat, life is a struggle. Until they decide they’re getting those season tickets. And now they’ve got their mission, nowt is gonna stand in their way. Whey, apart from maybe a few radgie charvers, the social and the odd madcap scrap merchant.
Proud to be part of this Geordie production, Bill Ward said: “It’s such a great piece of writing - raw, visceral and very, very funny. As a North East lad myself, it’s got pretty much everything: characters that you instantly recognise and root for, plenty of radgies, dogs and tabs, and the fierce cocktail of hope and sheer desperation that comes with supporting the Toon. The play is on such an exciting journey - from sold out runs at Laurels in Whitley Bay and Live Theatre, to now landing with a bang on Grey Street at the Theatre Royal itself.”
Michelle Heaton is thrilled to be back on stage and said: “Acting was my first dream, before I entered the Popstars TV show and my life changed over the course of the TV series. I still love singing but I’m really grateful to take on an acting role again – and in my hometown of Newcastle at the beautiful Theatre Royal. I can’t wait.”
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