Gareth Hunter, owner of Sunderland-based production company Ion Productions, secured rights to the show before anyone else in the country.

"We wanted to do something a bit unusual and I thought Rent would fit the bill perfectly," he told the Echo.

"I contacted the family of the writer, Jonathan Lawson, and thought I would just wait and see."

Fortunately for Gareth, after toing and froing with correspondence and contracts, he was granted the rights to perform the show.

The 29-year-old, from South Shields, will produce and direct the performance.

He said: "We're all so excited about this. Providing no one else performs it before June, it will be the national premiere.

"I'm very keen to keep the local element going and involving people from the North East.

"I've already had a lot of people contacting me about auditions and they're not even scheduled to take place until the end of January."

The show will run from June 10-13 at the Customs House in South Shields.

Anyone aged 16 to 45 who is interested in performing in Rent can contact Gareth at gareth@reallabour.co.uk.