The Bench hits the road

Jeff Brown is familiar to TV audiences across the North East – and now he’s taking his latest play to every nook and cranny of the region.

As the presenter of news and sport on BBC Look North, Jeff has been in people’s living rooms, every day and night for almost 30 years; he’s semi-retired now – allegedly – but still helping out with the Monday night sports bulletin.

A former local football writer, the beautiful game has always been his specialised, and favourite subject, and The Bench, which opens on a 17-venue tour in Durham this month, is his second foray into playwriting.

His first, Cornered, is the tale of former Sunderland-born footballer David Corner and the traumatic impact on his life after his mistake led to the team’s defeat in the 1985 Milk Cup Final. The monologue opened at Customs House in South Shields, and also went on a brief regional tour in 2017.

Two years ago Jeff returned to Customs House for a short run with The Bench – and he’s now assembled four of the original cast, led by producer Carole Wears and director Olivia Millar-Ross, to take the show across the North East and Cumbria for the next month.

After three nights at The Gala Theatre in Durham, the cast take on some very different venues on the road, from community centres and village halls, to theatres and playhouses, and even his old school in Sunderland.

“Basically it's a boy meets girl story,” says Jeff. “But people tell me it's got a bit more depth. So that's really nice. 

“It's based around a black footballer, who’s originally from Africa, raised in France and gets a transfer to an unnamed but ailing North East Premier League team – I’m sure you can guess which one I had in mind at the time? 

“He arrives in January, and  because he's halfway through the season, he's got no mates he's struggling, and he spends a lot of time on a park bench, where he meets a white single mum, who’s on benefits, and they keep meeting up on the bench. 

“They appear to have nothing in common but she's a lost soul on the breadline, and he's a lost soul with money coming out of his ears.

“So that’s the gist of it.”

Jeff, who studied playwriting online through Newcastle’s Live Theatre nearly ten years ago, started writing The Bench soon after Cornered had completed its first run.

He has been helped by former schoolmate and actress Melanie Hill, fellow playwriting wife Susan and their daughter Alice Stokoe, now a well-known actress too, and local playwright Ed Waugh.

And after ‘dipping in and out,’ he returned to it after England’s European Championship final defeat to Italy in 2021, and the shocking online abuse suffered by the country’s black players, who had missed in the penalty shoot-out.

Jeff says: “I kept leaving it and coming back to it and after the 2021 Euros, and the backlash against Saka and the black guys who missed a penalty, I thought there's an element of it; this is a much bigger part of the story. 

“So it's also about how he handles the racism and abuse and to be fair all footballers get, but black footballers get more than more than most; it's probably developed a little bit of a harder edge to it.

“I made him a black footballer and a white woman, just because I thought it's a contrast and, when I was at school, we had one Asian family in the whole school in the 70s in Sunderland. 

“And it's a lot more diverse the whole North East now thank goodness, but I still think, if you're a black person in the North East, you can face challenges.”

The Bench is being supported by Durham Gala Theatre, Show Racism The Red Card and the North East Combined Authority who are co-funding a Learning Activity from the play which will be taken into schools and Show Racism The Red Card will have a presence at every show.

“It wasn't why I wrote the play,” he says. “But if it can have any sort of lasting impact, that's incredible, really. It's just such a lovely spin-off. 

“I’m forever indebted to the Customs House for giving it its first break and when we first put the the cast together and got their input after the first read through, it lifted the script several levels, from something that I knew was all right, to something with their input, that was great; they all totally invested in it. They loved it.

“It got such a good response, and the reviews were overwhelming, really, that so many people said, you can't just end it there, because that's what happens with plays.

“Tony Mowbray actually came to see it when he was Sunderland manager and he loved it. 

“I’d invited him because I knew it was the sort of thing he’d be interested in and he wanted to bring the whole squad to show them the other side of football, but it was the last performance of the run and they had a match the next day!”

Jeff Brown, left, with former Middlesbrough and Sunderland manager Tony Mowbray

Jason Njoroge revises his role as Adi, the new signing, along with Hannah Marie Davis, who plays local girl Vicky, plus Abigail Lawson and Dan Howe. Experienced Wallsend-born actor David Nellist has joined the cast as football agent Mike.

The cast have been rehearsing at Durham’s Gala ahead of opening night on May 22, and then hit the road – heading up to Cumbria and down to Teesside before finishing back at Customs House in South Shields.

Jeff adds: “The loveliest thing on the first day, was they were just so excited to be back together. so vested in the piece. It's lovely, really nice. And I know that will show through in their performance. 

“It’s a great challenge for the actors because we're starting off in a lovely, big theatre like the Gala, and then we've got a couple of community centres and village halls where they haven’t quite got the same facilities, shall we say, so it's great learning curve for a lot of the cast.

“I think the nicest line out of any reviews was, you don't have to be a football fan to enjoy this. 

“The best advice for any writer is to write about what you know… but it’s a love story, really – it just happens to have football at the heart of it.”

Tour Dates (see here for more details )

Thursday 22 May, 1pm & 7.30pm - Gala Durham

Friday 23 May, 7.30pm - Gala Durham

Saturday 24 May, 2.30pm & 7.30pm - Gala Durham

Tuesday 27 May, 7.30pm - Coundon & Leeholme Community Centre

Wednesday 28 May, 2.30pm & 7.30pm - The Exchange 1856, North Shields

Thursday 29 May, 7.30pm - Askham & Helton Community Centre, Cumbria

Friday 30 May, 7.30pm - Kentmere Institute, Cumbria

Saturday 31 May, 7.30pm - Hamsterley Village Hall, County Durham

Sunday 1 June, 7.30pm - Great Whittington Village Hall, Northumberland

Wednesday 4 June, 7.30pm - Middlesbrough Town Hall

Thursday 5 June, 7.30pm - Arts Centre Washington

Friday 6 June, 7.30pm - Alnwick Playhouse

Sunday 8 June, 3pm - St John's Hall, Meadowfield, County Durham

Tuesday 10 June, 12.45pm & 7.30pm - Queen's Hall Arts Centre, Hexham

Wednesday 11 June, 7.30pm - Live Theatre, Newcastle

Thursday 12 June, 1pm & 7.30pm - Live Theatre, Newcastle

Friday 13 June, 7.30pm - Live Theatre, Newcastle

Saturday 14 June, 7.30pm - Live Theatre, Newcastle

Tuesday 17 June, 7pm - Monkwearmouth Academy, Sunderland

Wednesday 18 June, 1pm & 7.30pm - Bishop Auckland Town Hall

Thursday 19 June, 7.30pm - Saltburn Community Theatre

Friday 20 June, 7.30pm - The Customs House, South Shields

Saturday 21 June, 7.30pm - The Customs House, South Shields

Looking to promote your product/service to SME businesses in your region? Find out how Bdaily can help →