A TOWERING, skeletal structure of gantries, ladders and girders dominates the stage and creates a vivid sense of the dry dock and shipyard that sits at the centre of Sting’s much anticipated musical, writes Laurence Sach.

59 Productions is responsible for this impressive design, and the stunning use of projected images and animations that accompanies it.

As a teenager, Sting left his home town of Wallsend to find fame and fortune as an internationally renown musician and songwriter. As time has passed and family connections lost he has been inspired to return to the community and traditions of his boyhood. But this is no soft centred exercise in nostalgia as the skilfully crafted songs, delivered by a first rate company, demonstrate. Under the musical direction of Richard John - and no doubt with a contribution here and there from the man himself - they exude energy and determination as well as a sense of pride and compassion.

Sting’s counterpart to this story of the prodigal son’s return is Gideon Fletcher, a character imbued with humanity and conviction by Richard Fleeshman. Gideon returns from a seventeen year absence to discover he has a teenage daughter, Ellen. The reunion provides Fleeshman with one of the most evocative numbers in the show, The Night the Pugilist Learned How to Dance, which he delivers to perfection.

But the ship-building community, led by Joe McCann and Charlie Hardwick as Jackie and Peggy White, also sits at the centre of this story about a home coming, and a rediscovery of times past.

Until April 7.

Box Office: 0191 230 5151

www.northernstage.co.uk