Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
Whitley Bay Musical Theatre Company
Whitley Bay Playhouse
30th April 2026 | Review by Stephen Stokoe
Following their production of Little Shop of Horrors, Whitley Bay Theatre Company might have found it a challenge to raise their game for their next production. Was Carl Luke-Flanders and his hard-working team daunted by this task? Not one bit of it as they present Everybody’s Talking About Jamie written by Tom MacRea with music by Dan Gillespie Sells from an idea by Jonathan Butterell.
The set (Scenic Projects) is very innovative and at the start feels familiar as I have seen the show and this particular set on more than one occasion but this production was about to open my eyes and those of the large audience to a brilliantly thought out production with some stellar performances from the entire cast.
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is a musical version of the real life story of Bishop Auckland born wannabe drag queen Jamie Campbell who was featured in a documentary Jamie: Drag Queen at 16 and aired on the BBC in 2011. In this musical iteration, we meet the 16 year old, now called Jamie New (Ryan Duffy) on his birthday. He dreams of sequins, feather boas, and make up while revising with his best friend Priti (Becky Lakin) all the while dealing with their seemingly personal bully, Dean Paxton (Ashton Williamson.)
On the other hand, he has his home life with his loving but cash-strapped mother, Margaret (Sarah Wales) often joined by no-thoughts-left-unspoken family friend Ray (Maeve O’Sullivan-Coles.)
After searching on the internet, Jamie has a chance meeting with Hugo/ Loco Chanelle (Morgan Newman AKA Pia Pressure), a washed-up drag artiste and now costume shop custodian and, as they say, the rest is history (or herstory depending on what Jamie and Hugo are wearing at the time.)
For all of Jamie’s youthful exuberance, he is riddled with insecurities and doubts about his looks and abilities. This is largely down to an incident where absent father, Wayne (Kevin Williamson) caught him dancing around in his mother’s clothing at the age of seven. This is beautifully illustrated in the number “The Wall in my Head” with a debut performance by George Mason, a third generation of a family associated with Whitley Bay Musical Theatre Company.
As school-leaver Jamie, Duffy delivers a performance which is nothing short of sensational. He explodes into life in the opening number and practically never leaves the stage. As is traditional, he is the last person standing as the curtain falls. Duffy does not put a heel wrong as he explores Jamie’s many insecurities, peppered with one-liners and catty put downs, largely aimed at bully Dean. His vocals rang out into the audience and he wrought every emotion from every word – even causing this reviewer’s jaded old eyes to moisten on more than one occasion.
If I have used all of my superlatives on Duffy’s performance, forgive me if I repeat myself when talking about the individual performances and double act of Wales and Sullivan-Coles. Together they make a forbidable team. They bounce off each other beautifully with Sullivan-Coles delivers an expletive-laden script with charm and wonderful comic timing. For her part Wales portrays a strong yet emotionally vulnerable single mother with some amazing and powerful vocals. Playing this wonderful part has been on Wales’ bucket list for some considerable time now and, I for one and delighted to have seen her take it on. She was born to play this part and it is wonderful to see her back on the stage in the north east, having performed with her a couple of times in the early 2010’s (even if her character was hell-bent on feeding me to a rampaging female giant at the time!)
Moving onto the crucial, but complex character of Hugo aka Loco Chanelle, Plagued by what could be described as stunt casting by many UK professional tours of ‘Jamie’ it is refreshing to have a dyed-in-the frock drag queen take on this role. It is not enough to deliver the fabulous lines in the script, as phenomenal as they are, this character has seen the soaring highs and the bleak, desperate lows of life on the drag queen circuit. My research suggests that Morgan is significantly younger than the character they were portraying and as Hugo, I could not help hearing and seeing in my mind’s ears and eye similarities to the wonderful Harvey Fierstein – a greater compliment I cannot bestow upon this talented performer.
The casting of Williamson as bully Dean was also an inspired one. Dean is also quite nuanced as a character having to be believable as a sought after stud of the school yard with an under-current of unspoken sexual tension between himself and the flamboyant Jamie and his own insecurities. Williamson managed these with ease with his natural good looks along with some superb direction giving him an authentic swagger most boys of a certain age will recognise and even align with.
To close act one we meet some of the other drag queens in Loco’s circle and I cannot in all conscience fail to mention them because as a thruple, they light up the stage whenever they appear. They are the seasoned Gary Roe as Sandra Bo**ocks, Matthew Maguire as the effervescent Tray Sophisticay and Steven Dixon as the wonderfully named Laika Virgin.
The 8-strong band led by musical director Andrew Clarence accompanied the action wonderfully and in conjuction with Wales’ beautiful vocals, I defy anyone, male or female, not to have been moved by ‘He’s My Boy’ deep into Act Two.
The direction by Luke-Flanders showed a mature sense of restraint – and it worked wonderfully. The characters were real and authentic and heart-wrenching. The action flowed from scene to scene and the monochrome ‘Jamie’ state at the start of the show leading to a full colour version at the end signifying this incredible blossoming young man’s journey was nothing short of inspired. There is also some very co-ordinated choreography (Sophie Clarke) which must have taken months of hard work and determination to perfect. The dance numbers were truly mesmerising and a hearty well done to the entire creative team.
This musical is a joyous exploration of self determination, of acceptance, and of the unconditional love of a mother for her boy. Whitley Bay Musical Theatre Company have as a team done themselves, Jamie Campbell, and the audiences that come to see it very proud indeed.
You slay, WBMTC!