OPERA fan Gary Winn has won a grant to stage a Geordie version of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado.
Mr Winn has spent a year re-writing the show, replacing the courts of imperial Japan with North-East workingmen's clubs.
The hospital biochemist started working on the project for fun but contacted Northern Arts when he had finished.
They sent him a £500 grant and arranged for the show to be given its debut at the Gala Theatre, in Durham.
One of the show's best-known songs, Three Little Maids From School Are We, is now Three Bonny Lasses From The Toon Are We.
Mr Winn, who lives with his wife, Julie, and family in South Church, Bishop Auckland, County Durham, says he has a wealth of first-hand knowledge of North East culture to draw from.
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