REVIEW: The Bench at North Shields Exchange 1856

The Bench 

North Shields - The Exchange 1856

Thursday 28 May 2025 and then on tour

Written by Jeff Brown 

Directed by Olivia Millar-Ross 

A play centred around two people, a premiership footballer and a single mother, and a park bench is touring across the North. By combining two passionate areas the play scores highly on many fronts.

Jeff Brown was on the television screens across the region for many years as the presenter of BBC Look North. He regularly discussed the sports news and it is clearly something he is passionate about. Perhaps less well known by the general public is that Jeff is a theatre regular. We frequently see him both at the big shows but, more frequently, supporting the smaller shows across our region. I'll even go as far as to say that he might even see more theatre in a year than I do! It is natural then that sport features in his second play. He has seen plenty of theatre to understand what makes for an engaging story - and that is the case with The Bench.

It is a set of two halves (I know - try fewer football references). On the left is a smart modern flat, representing what one might expect to be leased by a young footballer. On the right is the partial chaos of a flat owned by a young parent. Baby stuff sharing space with sentimental photos. In the centre of Lee Ward's set is The Bench - a unifying piece of furniture around which the whole play gambles that the audience will connect to.

Hannah Marie Davis appears on the stage first as Vicky, a young single mother who has had to quit her job in order to look after her mother. As someone who is caring for two the last thing she needs to be sanctioned for 3 months from her benefits for having the audacity to leave employment in order to provide a caring role.  Joining her at the park bench is young footballer Adi (Jason Njoroge) who is fairly forward in asking if he can sit  there and firing questions at the young mother and her baby. As Adi approaches the bench Vicky is singing Frère Jacques and he assumes she can also speak French. There is an awkward exchange between them. She is not into football and does not recognise him, he seems confident and quite forward. 

A lad (Dan Howe) walks by and recognises Adi as the recent signing who is struggling to do much more than warm the bench at matches since his signing from a second division French side. The lad has a go at him with the sort of comments usually reserved for the internet's keyboard warriors.

So the whole premise of the show is set up. A couple of different people who both like to sit at the same park bench keep meeting up and chatting. Each revealing a bit more of their back story as they grow more confident in the other. The footballer recognises that Vicky has literally no interest in football so she doesn't make demands on him, whilst she is wary of men in general as, for example, the father of her child made a very sharp exit in her life when she announced that she was pregnant.

Adding to the layers in the show are two supporting roles that represent the two differences in background. David Nellist is the pushy wheeler-dealing Mike - a football agent who makes a tidy living out of the talents of young footballers. He looks after the affairs of Adi, acting as a surrogate parent at times, though with his own interests very much at heart. On Vicky's side is best mate Becs (Abigail Lawson) who knows Vicky's past and is keen to support her and look out for her. The writer uses these two characters to flesh out the situation that Adi and Vicky find themselves in. Both are being swept along as the future is an much decided by others as is it directly through their own actions. Both supporting actors do well in how they convincingly flesh out the plot.

The show is supported by Show Racism The Red Card and whilst the show acknowledges the racism a BAME footballer, that has arrived on these shores from the Democratic Republic of Congo, via France, will endure but doesn't make a massive song and dance over it.

Likewise, the current practice of leaving vulnerable people without an income as the rules state that they must be sanctioned is mentioned. Whilst some of the effects of such are policy are shown, the show neatly side steps getting too political and leaves the audience to make up their own mind.

The ensemble works well together in creating an interesting night at the theatre. There seems to be a number of pauses in the action as the scene changes which give a number of opportunities for reflection. It is a personal opinion but I do find myself at odds with the decisions made by Vicky. I'm surprised - both by the fact she stays put in the park when a stranger approaches in a park and starts firing questions, and when she acts the way she did at the end (no spoilers here). I get she is proud and independent but this is a matter of survival. Still, it gave us something to discuss on the drive back from North Shields.  

Review: Stephen Oliver

Tickets:

For full tour dates, visit: www.carolewproductions.com/the-bench 

Suitability: Approx. 2 hours including an interval

Duration: 14+

Remaining Tour Dates & Venues

• 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 Johns Hall Meadowfield, County Durham

• Tuesday 10 June, 12.45pm & 7.30pm – Queen’s Hall Arts Centre, Hexham

• Wednesday 11 June, 7.30pm, Thursday 12 June, 1pm & 7.30pm, Friday 13 June, 7.30pm and Saturday 14 June, 7.30pm - Live Theatre

• 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 & Saturday 21 June, 7.30pm – The Customs House, South Shields

*These dates are presented as part of the Highlights Rural Touring Scheme.