Aldwych theatre, London
Jamie Eastlake’s play about two football fans mixes together song, dance, comedy and dark family drama, with incohesive results
This tale of two hard-up reprobates in Gateshead, who dream of getting a Newcastle United season ticket by hook or by crook, encapsulates hope in the face of adversity. Adapted from an award-winning book (which also became the film Purely Belter), the play has its own rags-to-riches story, of sorts. Written and directed by Jamie Eastlake, it began life at a 60-seater social club in north Tyneside in 2022. Now, here it is in the West End, full of vivid characters, in-your-face demotic and subtly damning commentary on the political betrayals of this region, drained of resources – and sometimes hope itself.
Jonathan Tulloch’s original novel, The Season Ticket, was published in 2000 but could have been written for our age of austerity, though its tone wavers between comedy and tragedy. The picaresque exploits of young, disenfranchised friends Gerry (Dean Logan) and Sewell (Jack Robertson) – whether scouring the banks of the Tyne for stuff to sell or carrying out burglaries – are spliced with dark family drama involving poverty, domestic violence, alcoholism and sexual abuse.
At Aldwych theatre, London, until 24 January. Then at Newcastle Theatre Royal, 9-13 June
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