Review: THE PITMEN PAINTERS at ARTS Theatre

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Thursday 16th August 2022.

Therry's latest offering, Lee Hall's The Pitmen Painters, is based on the true story of a group of, mostly, miners from Ashington, Northumberland, just north of Newcastle. It was built for its workers by the Ashington Coal Company. Hall, who also wrote Billy Elliott, drew on the book by William Feaver, Pitmen Painters: The Ashington Group 1934-1984. William Feaver was The Observer's art critic between 1975 and 1998, and founding trustee of the Ashington Group collection.

It all began with an Ashington WEA (Workers Education Association) art appreciation course, run by Prix de Rome winner, Robert Lyon, on 29th October 1934. They formed a group in 1936 and called themselves The Ashington Group, also known familiarly as The Pitmen Painters. They continued to meet until 1983, when their meeting hut was demolished, followed by the Miners' Strike in 1984/5, and the closure of the Ashington Colliery in 1988, due to the regressive and austere regime of the divisive and much hated Conservative Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.

The play is a drama-comedy covering the period 1934-47. It is a dramatised account of the group coming together, having chosen to study art appreciation because no tutor was available for an introduction to economics course, and discovering that they gained much more through this than they might have done had their first preference eventuated.

Chris Leech plays Robert Lyon (1894-1978), the tutor who immediately finds himself in completely unfamiliar territory as his first class goes awry. His set of black and white slides of great Renaissance art with religious themes, and his lecture to accompany them, means nothing to the pitmen, and he has to totally rethink his approach to the classes, deciding that having them create their own works would be an ideal way to answer their many questions as to what is art, and what is good and bad art. Leech shows Lyon's initial bewilderment and growing respect for and admiration of the men in his classes.

Harry Wilson (1898-1972), the odd man out, being the pit's dental technician, unable to work down the mines after being mustard-gassed in the trenches during WWI, spouts Marxist rhetoric at every opportunity. Andrew Horwood knows from his extensive experience that, for comedy to be really funny, you do not play it for laughs, because that kills it. His Harry is an intelligent and serious man, longing for a Socialist Britain. Horwood plays it as a drama, and the laughs come naturally, without being forced. I have seen this admirable trait in his work many times over the decades.

Director, Geoff Brittain, has, in fact, ensured that his whole cast have developed fully coherent and believable characters, and they all play it straight, the laughs coming easily from the script and the situations.

Sam Wiseman plays George Brown (1906-1963), the colliery joiner, and the organiser of the WEA classes, a rather officious man, the self-appointed leader of the group, who attempts to make everything run the way that he wants. He can be bombastic, argumentative, critical, and inflexible. Wiseman does a fine job in the role.

Jack Robins is Oliver Kilbourn (1904-1993), perhaps the most successful of the group, who is offered a stipend by Helen Sutherland, equal to his salary, to give up mining work and concentrate on his art full-time. Kilbourn was actually one of only two in this play who actually worked underground. He continued to paint even as others left the group, and produced a series of works about his life in the mines. There was a solo exhibition of his works in 2008. Robins clearly shows Kilbourn's great passion for painting and constant striving for knowledge and understanding in a thoughtful portrayal.

Nicholas Mitchell plays Jimmy Floyd (1898-1974), who was regularly admonished by the cantankerous Brown for breaking the rules. Floyd was the only other one who worked underground, as what was known as a onsetter, loading full tubs and unloading empty tubs from the winch cage. Mitchell makes much of Floyd's sense of humour, regularly antagonising of Brown, garnering plenty of laughs.

Liam James as Young Lad, George's nephew, is not given a name as he represents a number of other members of the group, and pitmen in general. He is unemployed and sees no jobs in his future as there is no work in the coal pits. The 1930s were the time of the Great Depression. Nationalisation was yet to come. When war comes, he enlists in the army. James brings irreverence for his seniors to the character, particularly his uncle, with a lively interpretation of the role.

Helen Sutherland (1881-1965) was the heiress of the P&O line and patron of the arts, introduced to the group by Lyon. She arranged for them to travel to London to visit major galleries and supported their work. Anita Canala couldn't possibly have been any more elegant in the role, helped by a sensational wardrobe. As Helen, she embodied style and easily convinced that she lived in the mansion, Rock Hall, and rode in a chauffer-driven Rolls Royce.

Adam Schultz appears as Ben Nicholson (1894-1982) who created abstract paintings using geometric shapes and low-relief techniques. He is a regular visitor to the estate of Helen Sutherland and the pitmen see his work displayed there. Schultz displays the difference in approach and attitude of the professional, trained artist, and the enthusiastic amateur, in his interpretation.

Veronika Wlodarczyk plays Susan Parks, an art student who is hired by Lyon as a life model, much to the surprise of the painters whose prudish morals are taken aback by her attempts to disrobe, which they, especially Brown, continually interrupt. Wlodarczyk's unabashed efforts as Parks, trying hard to do her job, bring plenty of laughs.

There were, of course, a good many more men in the group, but theatrical conventions apply, reducing the cast to a significant few. One of them, George Blessed, incidentally, was related to the Yorkshire born actor, Brian Blessed.

Ole Wiebkin was responsible for a many set designs, and this play features his concept. Sadly, he passed away before being able to bring it to fruition. He will be greatly missed, and this production is dedicated to his memory.

The Geordie accent, that of Northumberland and County Durham is, arguably, the most difficult of regional English accents to master. A full-blown Geordie accent, with the use of all of the region-specific words used only in that area, particularly by miners, can, in fact, be almost indecipherable, even to those in neighbouring counties. It came as no surprise, then, that accents were inconsistent and inaccurate, but it was a good try.

If you are ever in the north of England, the works of The Ashington Group can be seen at the Woodhorn Colliery Museum, a heritage colliery site near Ashington.

There is a lot of information conveyed in this, perhaps, sometimes-wordy play, with much philosophising about all aspects of art and its meaning to both artists and viewers, as well as bringing in politics, sociology, history, and more. This fascinating play should be on your list for this week and next.

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