Whereas hard work was made by many of such texts as William Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet or Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice, even reluctant readers positively raced through Robert Westall's tale about a group of Tyneside teenagers growing up during the Nazi Blitz of 1940 and 1941.

Penned in 1975, the story, turned into a TV series in 1983, centres on Chas McGill, a 13-year-old who, while out hunting for war memorabilia, chances upon the remains of a German bomber crashed in woods.

Still attached is a working machine gun, which he adds to his collection – little knowing the adventures that await him and his gang.

Adapted by Tom Kelly and Ken Reay for the stage, with original music by John Miles, it was first performed as a musical at the Customs House in South Shields in 1998, before going on to earn five-star reviews at the Edinburgh Festival.

Back at the Mill Dam venue from Wednesday, its latest director, Gareth Hunter, thinks it has many similarities with another rites-of-passage story set in the region – Billy Elliot.

"It has a real sense of community like Billy Elliot. It too is a real feelgood musical," he said.

In this, the first week of rehearsals for the revival, the 30-year-old was determined to see the cast breathe new life into the words they were reading out.

"There's a lot of pressure to bring a new presence to it, and I think what I bring is a slightly different look to what it was before," said Gareth, of South Shields.

"We have some nice effects, and also the cast is made up of some of the best talent in the North East."

It includes Neil Armstrong as Mr McGill, Tracey Gillman as Mrs McGill, Donald McBride as Stan and Annie Orwin as Mrs Spalding.

In the pivotal role of Chas is former Emmerdale star James Baxter, who has only just finished performing in the Sunderland Empire's latest pantomime, Peter Pan, in which he took the title role.

He's looking forward to tackling his first musical, but James did admit that having to sing some of the 15 numbers featured was "outside his usual comfort zone".

Perhaps the best known of these is the jingoistic Englishmen, from which he took a quick breather to describe how he was getting along.

"It's purely about having the confidence to sing. My singing is getting a lot better," said the Sunderland-born 19-year-old.

As for the show's lasting popularity, he explained: "It's very entertaining to watch, and it gives a good idea of what life was like back then on lots of different levels.

"There are young characters, so kids will know what it was like back then, but there are also older ones, who show what is was like then too."

One such older character for whom the show brings back more memories than most is Wayne Miller, 30, of South Shields, who played Chas in its original Customs House run 12 years ago.

Now playing Bodser, he said: "It's great to be back in it. The play started my career.

"It shows passion and a real sense of community of how the war brought people together."

"It does show my age, though, as I can't play Chas any more."

Time does indeed fly for actors, as do fists in this play, the main culprit being Rachel Teate.

After playing a fairy in the Customs House's latest panto, Sleeping Beauty, she makes a swift return to the venue as tomboy Audrey.

"I started the book at school and remember Audrey as being the only one who spoke her mind," said the 22-year-old, from Middlesbrough.

"She is a tomboy who's harder than all the boys and likes to have fights. She fancies Chas a lot, but doesn't know how to tell him."

What was it like being the only female gang member, I wondered?

"It's very strange, compared to things I've done before, because there are so many males," she said.

"It's good fun, though, and at the moment, they are treating me nicely and I can get away with saying 'oh, I don't want to do that because I'm a girl', and they are getting me cups of tea, which is nice."

The play's co-writer Ken, 55, from Sunderland, was at the rehearsal to see how things were coming together.

He said: "It's excellent. We did it in 1998 with performing art students, but now it's a full professional cast of experienced actors.

"It's great to see their approach, as they are trying to work out new ways of doing the show.

"As a writer, it's great to see the cast enjoying the play and belting out the music. It's a really good feeling."

"The big finale is a number called Together, which sums up the ethos of the show – how we all come together sometimes in times of trouble.

The Machine Gunners is on at the Customs House from Wednesday to Saturday, February 13. Tickets, priced £10, are available from the venue's box office on 454 1234.