Gerry & Sewell at Aldwych Theatre

Scaling up is a tricky business. There’s little doubt that Gerry & Sewell, a play originally fashioned for a tiny independent theatre on the Tyneside coast, and which reviewed terrifically across numerous runs in the northeast, was worthy of its shot on the West End, but it arrived for its limited two-week run in the capital, somewhat beleaguered from the journey.

Based on Jonathan Tulloch’s novel The Season Ticket, Gerry & Sewell explores the tale of a so-named pair of young men from Gateshead (Dean Logan and Jack Robertson), whose dream is to secure a season ticket for their beloved Newcastle United, a steep goal in the face of total poverty, unhappy domestic situations and the tense politics of the streets around them. Furthermore, the locally despised owner of the club, Mike Ashley, governs United into a far from fan-friendly pricing structure. Nevertheless, the boys have their dream and decide they will do whatever it takes to realise it.

The play itself, penned by Olivier Award winner Jamie Eastlake, is funny and often poignant, though oddly complex and unsettled with no shortage of loose ends, with that tried and tested trope of the sharp-witted (smaller) gentlemen paired with the (larger) fellow of more simple intellect – reminiscent of Steinbeck’s George and Lennie – employed to the full. The comedy largely lands, especially the brilliantly jarring fourth-wall breaks, some decent slapstick, as well as accomplished and amusing puppetry, though one or two surreal and unfathomable characters were reminiscent of the inane imaginations of a school drama lesson. The themes of togetherness and camaraderie, along with toxic masculinity, all – happily or unhappily – integral to the football community, are explored to emotional effect, particularly in the show’s second half.

Unfortunately, however, the most prominent takeaway from Gerry & Sewell’s arrival in the West End is that it has not travelled well. While the cast remains largely the same – a particular mention for Becky Clayburn’s portrayal of Brebin, the nebulous man of the streets/haunting poet/vague nemesis to the show’s protagonist pair – there was a troublingly unpolished quality to this production’s delivery. Sound design and balance issues were a pervasive threat, and there was an apparent unfamiliarity on behalf of the company with the amended stage design. Gerry & Sewell in London may make for an uneasy spectacle, but it is a raucous comic riot nevertheless.