Nic Dempsey

Last night I went to the theatre.

I’m very lucky to live in London where a lot of good theatre happens. This year, I’ve made more of an effort to do more local theatre, not the National or stuff at the West End. This is mostly because of cost…I don’t have much money, it’s also because the Bush Theatre has new premises and I’ve made an effort to find out what’s on there. Generally, though I can be quite London-centric and not know about other theatre in the rest of the country, relying on the fact that often if it’s good it will get to London eventually and the sad truth that I can’t afford to see a lot of theatre in London so how would I afford to travel somewhere else (no I still can’t drive or afford to learn!)

However, I do follow Samuel West (@exitthelemming) on Twitter and it became clear that he was rehearsing a play in Newcastle.  Close the Coalhouse Door was the play. So I looked it up and it looked interesting and it was on in May and Ma and I would be driving through Newscastle in May, so maybe we should look into it? Only to find it was touring when we were on holiday and we could see it in Richmond on 9th May. Tickets were booked.

At this point, I should point out that I am no theatre critic, I’m not great at defining (and then explaining) what I like and don’t like about a play.  So please don’t look at me for any kind of knowledge or wisdom.  That said, I really enjoyed this and if you are in or around anywhere it’s touring (click the link) go and see this.

The play, which was based on the stories of Sid Chaplin, is written by Alan Plater and first shown in 1968. The music was written by Alex Glasgow and it has been updated by Lee Hall, to account for the closure of the pits and the rise of the call centre.

It’s a funny play (a review I read said something about, “it’s soul belonging to the music hall”) , without self pity, it tells of the fight by the miners for rights, decent working hours, proper pay etc. It’s not hard to see the parallels with the current situation.

That said the play isn’t a polemic, although it’s upfront about the politics of the writers, it’s basically a hymn to a world that’s gone and ought to be remembered.  Whether you agree with the need for unions or not, they were formed because capitalism, unchecked, treats profit as more important that people and people as disposable. The real question is, and the one that the play left me with, are we going to need them like we used to?