Show paints a picture of miners' life
A hit musical inspired by a book about a group of miners will play out at Shrewsbury's Theatre Severn from Tuesday to May 21.
The Pitmen Painters, by Lee Hall, was inspired by a book by William Feaver. It will be directed by Max Roberts.
The production has won rave reviews with Charles Spencer, from The Daily Telegraph, describing it as: "Richly funny, deeply moving and continuously entertaining".
The show was originally produced by Newcastle's acclaimed Live Theatre, and following sell-out seasons at the National Theatre in London, on Broadway and in the West End, Bill Kenwright decided to take it on the road.
The award winning play started a new national tour this spring and will play in Shropshire for one week only from Tuesday. The production has won other rave reviews with Mark Shenton, from the Sunday Express, calling it: "The most deeply satisfying, enthralling and life affirming evening in town".
Libby Purves, from The Times, added: "Lee Hall's play and Max Robert's sublime production are ablaze with intellectual vigour, political passion and incendiary emotion energy. A beautiful work of art that everybody should see."
Lee Hall was the creator of the worldwide sensation Billy Elliot and his latest work has received huge critical acclaim and won the Evening Standard award for Best New Play.
The action is set in 1934 and focuses on a group of Ashington miners who hire 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 who do extraordinary things, The Pitmen Painters is a humorous, deeply moving and timely look at art, class and politics.
Joe Caffrey will star as 'Harry Wilson', Philip Correia as 'Oliver Kilbourn', Suzy Cooper as 'Helen Sutherland', Catherine Dryden as 'Susan Parks', Louis Hilyer as 'Robert Lyon', Riley Jones as 'Ben Nicholson / Young Lad', Nicholas Lumley as 'George Brown', and Donald McBride as 'Jimmy Floyd'.
Tickets are available from the venue.
