Why Jeff Brown's buzzing to be back on The Bench
The one-time face of Look North is loving theatreland
“That’s the thing with plays,” says Jeff Brown. “You write them, you get them performed and that’s it.”
For some, of course, that’s achievement enough. Many are the scripts, sweated and agonised over, whose journey from desk to bottom drawer (or their laptop equivalents) never involves a stage.
But after its first brief run at the Customs House in South Shields back in 2023, Jeff was encouraged to think The Bench still had legs. And he had taken the precaution of having the script published.
“It got such an unbelievable reception and I’ll be forever grateful to the Customs House and Ray Spencer (its then artistic director) in particular.
“They gave us the opportunity and the platform - six performances over four days. But the reaction was just great. Loads of people said you can’t just let it drop there.”
The Customs House couldn’t run to a tour but Ray had suggested contacting producer Carole Wears and then, lo and behold, Jeff bumped into her at another theatre event.
“Best signing I ever made,” he chortles, even if the question of who was signing who is possibly open to debate.
Jeff is a sports nut, as you’ll know from his many years as a face of Look North and his recent podcast series, Jeff Brown’s Sporting Greats.
We’re chatting at the BBC ‘pink palace’ in Newcastle where he has been helping out with the weekend football highlights, decanting oceans of footage into a thimbleful of TV brilliance.
You thought he’d retired? Ha! You can’t keep a good man down.
Anyway, he confesses now that part of what lured him away from nightly presenting duties was his love of theatre and his desire to do his best for a play that while inspired by football is actually about much more.
But we’ll come to that.
First back to Carole Wears, that super-signing.
“She came on board as producer and has worked tirelessly to put together a tour which involves 30 shows in 31 days across 17 venues,” says Jeff.
She also brought Gala Durham on board as co-producer – “so supportive, can’t thank them enough” – and involved the Highlights Rural Touring Scheme, meaning The Bench, after five initial shows at the Gala, will also be staged for village audiences who rarely find professional theatre on their doorsteps.
Jeff’s especially thrilled about two of the tour venues.
The first is Live Theatre in Newcastle where he completed a play writing course over 10 years ago.
“To go to Live, where I’ve been going regularly since the 1980s, is amazing.
“But the other one is my old school, Monkwearmouth Academy. I did a book launch with Terry Deary (of Horrible Histories fame) at the school because we both went there.
“The main hall hadn’t changed since I left in 1979 but it was about to get a major refurbishment and be turned into a community theatre space.
“My play’s going to be its first public event. I loved school and I had a great time there. It’ll be a very emotional night, I think.”
His only regret is that actor Melanie Hill, with whom he once performed in a sixth form revue, can’t make it, being “based in Cardiff now and full on with Casualty” (she plays Siobhan McKenzie).
In The Bench, a friendship develops between two people whose life experiences would seem to set them worlds apart. Vicky is a young single mum and Adi is an African footballer signed by the local team referred to as ‘the Town’.
She has issues with her family and the welfare system; he’s lonely and a victim of racist abuse, his performances on the pitch having riled the nastier elements of the team’s support base.
He has been largely confined to the ‘bench’, which is to say the luxuriously padded seats where the substitutes languish. It is on the park bench that both find temporary solace and escape.
Jeff is delighted that for this new production of The Bench, the charity Show Racism the Red Card has also come on board.
“They’re going to be represented at every venue and have endorsed the play. But they’ve also got together with the Gala to produce an education pack for schools based on scenes from the play.
“It has been funded by the North East Combined Authority and is going out to schools around the region.
“When I started writing the play, that wasn’t the point - it was a piece of entertainment. But if it can have some sort of effect in changing attitudes, that’s very humbling.
“It has been tweaked, as it would be, and, if anything, it’s got a little bit of a harder edge to it now because of the things that black footballers in particular still seem to be targets of.”
Flash forward a couple of weeks and I’m sitting at a table at Gala Durham with all those closely associated with The Bench, including Jeff, Carole, director Olivia Millar-Ross and the cast.
Day one of rehearsals and the first task is a read-through of the script. There’s the feeling of a reunion. Hannah Marie Davis, from County Durham, is back as Vicky and Londoner Jason Njoroge as Adi.
Abigail Lawson, who has been with The Bench since its very first script-in-hand performance, returns as Vicky’s bubbly hairdresser pal, ‘Becs’, as does Dan Howe, a Sunderland University performing arts graduate doubling up with two roles.
Joining the cast is the popular and vastly experienced David Nellist as Mike, Adi’s ferociously controlling and materialistic agent (and if you think he’s over-the-top, Jeff says his antics are based on the revelations of a former North East professional footballer who shared his own experiences).
As the actors lift their characters from the page, the play comes alive… funny, touching, entertaining and full of authentic insights into North East life – indeed, life in general – and also the game that, while compelling, doesn’t always live up to the description ‘beautiful’.
The Bench begins its extensive tour at Gala Durham with five performances between May 22 and May 24, and it is almost certain to be coming to a venue near you before it finishes at the Customs House, South Shields, with performances on June 20 and 21. Jeff hopes to be at most of them.
You can find the full tour listing on the Carole Wears Productions & Events website.
But could there be life for The Bench after the theatre run?
Jeff says he has had positive discussions with his film producer friend David Parfitt – Sunderland-born and with many top credits to his name – and he has also written a screenplay, just in case.
“It’s something we’re pursuing,” smiles this man off the telly with an eye on the bigger picture. So watch this space.