On Wednesdday 21 May, Lee Hall's new play The Pitmen Painter's had its Press Night and  night Entry Pass members Emma Powell, Jade Hunter and Zoe Thomas-Webb joined the professionals to give their reactions to the play. Read on to see what they thought of this play:

Ordinary men doing ordinary things, but achieving much more. This is one of the issues brought up in Lee Hall's excellent play, The Pitmen Painters.

Hall's play, which transferred from Live Theatre in Newcastle, is a funny and touching account of The Ashington Group; a group of miners who hired a professor to teach them to appreciate art. Accent barriers and a little conflict cause the pitmen to abandon the learning and begin to paint. No matter who bought their paintings, or how much they became known, they still carried on working down the mine.

Creating a brilliant mix of fact and fiction, Hall's writing is excellent; funny and touching in a way that is complemented by the cast. Through his writing, the conversations and debates that the group have actually make sense. So much so that they don't need to rely on academia to have significant and understandable opinions.

The cast work incredibly well together and each personality stands out on its own. Each of them has different reasons and ways of approaching the art and the debates around it. At one point, Harry Wilson arrives and states "I just had to get out of the house, the wife's driving me crackers." A common excuse, I think, and is just one example of the play being accessible to all audiences.

The play is a triumph, and I can honestly say I haven't a bad word to say about it.

Jade Hunter

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Lee Hall, the genius behind Billy Elliot, has delivered, yet again, a simply stunning piece of theatre. The Pitmen Painters, based on a true story, provides us with a fresh and thought-provoking view of art, and the social implications entangled with it. 
The story offers a richly humorous, informative and heartfelt account of a group of Geordie miners who rise to fame as The Ashington Group of painters. Having invited an academic to teach an art appreciation class, the group hastily realise their lack of interest in the High Renaissance, cherubs and all, and teacher Robert Lyon (superbly acted by Ian Kelly) resorts to encouraging the miners to paint, on the basis that ‘it's not about meaning, it's about being expressive'.

As their artistic talent flourishes, the preconception that art is only for the privileged is greatly challenged, and Hall provides a fascinating debate: What makes an artist? Does all art mean something? Why is art ‘the exclusive domain of the educated'?
Max Robert's production is filled with strongly characterised performances: Christopher Connel as the sincere and promising artist Oliver Kilbourn; David Whitaker as the hilarious Jimmy Floyd, whose Geordie vernacular confused Phillippa Wilson as the beautifully poised Helen Sutherland,(a delightful misunderstanding of ponies and peonies springs to mind). An impressive moment is when ingenious Ian Kelly draws a freehand charcoal sketch in front of a captivated audience. I later discovered that it was Kelly who had recreated many of the original paintings for the props in the production: no small feat.

As with Billy Elliot, Hall tackles the prominent themes of the social, political and educational barriers between the working class and the arts. It is through the voices of these uneducated miners that we realise the seemingly ludicrous nature of art itself, and, when reflecting on a sculpture of a circle in a square, one of the group says, ‘I could have done that!' while Miss Sutherland replies, ‘But you didn't...Ben Nicholson did.'

The intense artistic talent of this fabulous cast and Hall's warmly witty yet sufficiently poignant script blend to create a truly memorable production.

Emma Powell

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Lee Hall's new play tells the story of the Ashington Group, a group of minors from Northern England who decided to take an art appreciation class and a became one of the most popular artistic groups in the country. "I don't quite believe any of it!", was what my friend said about the plot of ‘The Pitman Painters', but there is nothing not to believe, all events and characters are based on real people and the things that happened to them. I would highly recommend having a quick look round the exhibition of the Ashington group in the Olivier exhibition area - the sculpture excels. For me some of the themes of ‘The Pitman Painters' seemed dated, the constant references to a class war seemed irrelevant. How-ever as a member of the audience I was shocked to find my self laughing at the characters, rarely with them. One major criticism would be the casting of Brian Lonsdale as both the Young Lad and as Ben Nicholson (Artist), this is did nothing to bridge the gap between working class and upper class it just made the void greater. Lonsdale did however give an outstanding performance as a Northern angry young man. Both Ian Kelly (Mr Lyon) and Christopher Connel (Oliver) did a superb job of leading an marvelous cast. ‘The Pitman Painters' is wonderfully funny, the jokes come thick and fast and there are plenty of belly laughs, my favorite has to be; "Miss Sutherland is particularly interested in modern art" to which Jimmy (David Whitaker) replies "You've come to the right place pet, these were all painted last week."

Zoe Thomas-Webb