PITMEN PAINTERS RETURN TO HOME-GROUND!

Following enormously successful sell-out seasons on both sides of the Atlantic, The Pitmen Painters comes home to the North East this summer with a cast full of local talent, visiting Newcastle Theatre Royal Monday 1 – Saturday 6 July. Originally produced by Newcastle’s Live Theatre, The Pitmen Painters went on to enjoy sell-out seasons at the National Theatre, on Broadway and in the West End. Written by local playwright Lee Hall, creator of the worldwide sensation Billy Elliot, The Pitmen Painters has received huge critical acclaim and won the Evening Standard Award for Best New Play. The play is loosely based upon the book Pitmen Painters: The Ashington Group 1934-1984 by William Feaver, from which Lee Hall drew inspiration. The play is set in 1934, when 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 who do extraordinary things, The Pitmen Painters is a humorous, deeply moving and timely look at art, class and politics. ****‘Breathtaking in its scope, Lee Hall’s remarkable play provides a fascinating debate about art and socialism.’ The Guardian ****‘Richly funny, deeply moving and continuously entertaining’ The Daily Telegraph ****‘This is important. Everyone should see it’ The Times The cast is bursting with North East talent including Riley Jones as Ben Nicholson, Wallsend’s Joe Caffrey as Harry Wilson, Blyth’s Philip Correia as Oliver Kilbourn and Durham based, Catherine Dryden and Donald McBride will play Susan Perks and Jimmy Floyd. Joining the stars of the North East are Suzy Cooper as Helen Sutherland, Louis Hilyer as Robert Lyon and Nicholas Lumley as George Brown. ‘A glorious, instant classic of early 21-century theatre….It is at once amusing, tragic and revelatory.’ Evening Standard Pitmen Painters is directed by Max Roberts. Full tour information can be found at www.kenwright.com The Pitmen Painters is at Newcastle Theatre Royal from Mon 1 – Sat 6 July 2013. Tickets are available from £12.00 and can be purchased from the Theatre Royal Box Office on 08448 11 21 21 or book online and select your own seat at www.theatreroyal.co.uk