The Pitmen Painters

Synopsis

In 1934, a group of Ashington miners hired a professor to teach an art appreciation evening class. Rapidly abandoning theory in favour of practice, the pitmen began to paint. Within a few years the most avant-garde artists became their friends and their work was acquired by prestigious collections; but every day they worked, as before, down the mine. Examining the lives of a group of ordinary men that do extraordinary things, The Pitmen Painters is a humorous, deeply moving and timely look at art, class and politics.

Our Review:

Karen Bussell - 5 July 2011

Billy Elliot writer Lee Hall’s Pitmen Painters, inspired by William Feaver’s book, is a gentle but stirring exploration of the artistic awakenings of a group of struggling Geordie miners in the depressed 1930s.

Under the sympathetic direction of Max Roberts, the Live Theatre Newcastle and National Theatre co-production of the award-winning play is brilliantly pitched and atmospheric.

The mood of the gritty determination of the pitmen, working in the claustrophobic darkness deep below the earth, fiercely proud of their heritage and their community, is captured and juxtapositioned with the pre-War excesses of the monied classes.

Unable to find a teacher of basic economics, the Workers Education Association makes do with art appreciation. Realising that lantern projector-accompanied lectures about the Old Masters and Renaissance was not hitting the mark, dapper academic Robert Lyon (David Leonard) instead encouraged the dwindling g...

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Latest User Review

David Baxter - 17 August 2011:

When I saw The Pitmen Painters at the National it was from near the back of the Lyttelton Circle so it was a very pleasant surprise to find the Palace Theatre, Westcliff on the current touring schedule. Unlike Cambridge or towns in the ATG empire we almost never see plays of this calibre and it was gratifying to find the theatre almost full. As a play it's best seen in a smaller theatre and it is at its best during the scenes in the WEA hall as the pitmen and their art tutor hilariously struggle with mutual incomprehension before discovering their artistic talent and developing to discussions of abstract, perspective, realism and non-representational forms. The scenes involving the offer of patronage from the wealthy heiress and her struggle of wills with Oliver Kilbourn are less convincing and feel more like the playwright imposing his philosophy on an otherwise true story. As with Billy Elliott, Lee Hall cannot resist adding a postscript full of his absurdly rose-tinted view of the benefits of socialism and common ownership, despite nearly a century of evidence to the contrary. Most of the actors playing the pitmen have been with the show since its origins in Newcastle then London and New York but show no signs of staleness and Trevor Fox fits in seamlessly as Kilbourn. The Pitmen Painters has proved to be one of the best new plays of the last few years and I hope that HQ Theatres note its success at the box office and adopt a more imaginative and challenging programming policy at the Palace....

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