The Pitmen Painters by Lee Hall, based on William Feaver's book about a group of actual coal miners in Newcastle, England, who invited a teacher of art to come to their community in 1934 to teach them art appreciation. The early implication in this remarkable play is that there is talent in all of us, and it sure comes out in the five miners represented. They all paint wonderful pictures, finding visual perspective and express imaginative ideas on their canvasses. They exhibited in northern England and after the war in London.
The play is fascinating, and the acting of the entire cast is quite good, although there are difficulties here and there in comprehending the accents. Phillippa Wilson as a Grande Lady is barely comprehensible, possibly partly because of her volume. The reproductions of the actual paintings are breath-taking.
I realized later that there is a skew in the moral presentation- there were 25,000 mine workers. It was a handful, maybe twenty-five or so, who sent for the teacher. It was clear to me that their talent had been peeking out on its own, and the teacher brought it to fruition. Not everyone has talent (or we'd have no audience in theater nor buyers of art). As James Joyce said in Tom Stoppard's play, Travesties, "An Artist should be able to do things that other people can't do." The actual men who did these fascinating paintings did what most people can't do. They had the talent and soul of artists, while they remained coal miners.
The practical set and appropriate costuming by Gary McCann, the clear lighting by Douglas Kuhrt all enhance Max Roberts' active direction. It's a stimulating, riveting evening of first-class theater.
