Written by Lee Hall, who was responsible for both the movie and stage versions of Billy Elliot, The Pitmen Painters has a similar north-east, mining town setting, although this time the events are based on a real group of painting pitmen from the 1930s and 40s.
I found this play at utter delight from beginning to end, with many moments of laugh-out-loud humour and earthy, believable characters. It was also incredibly informative and thought-provoking about the class system, politics of the period and above all else, the appreciation of art. Hall's approach to art much more accessible than that espoused by Alan Bennett in The Habit of Art, and it opened my mind to ways of creating, interpreting and thinking about culture that I hadn't thought of before. The cast were exceptional, with strong Geordie accents helping the humour along. I particularly enjoyed the culture class comedy between the 5 budding artists and their posh tutor, Robert Lyon. My favourite line involved a posh patron exclaiming that she likes modern art, to be told that she'd like the group's work then, as they were only painted that week!
briefly...
A hilarious and touching portrait of painting pitmen, with the added bonus of challenging approaches to art production and appreciation.
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