04 October − 08 November

Tuesday and Wednesday 6.30pm

Thursday to Saturday 8pm

Sunday 4pm

Circa Anniversary/Guy Fawkes’ Fireworks Night: Saturday, 8 November 6:30pm performance time

Adults $46

Concession $38

Friends of Circa (until 19 October) $33

Groups 6+ $39 20+ $36

Under 25s $25

Great Play Thanks to First Class Cast

BY EWEN COLEMAN, THE DOMINION POST, 6 OCTOBER 2014

Lee Hall’s play The Pitmen Painters, inspired by real life stories from William Feaver’s book, currently playing at Circa Theatre, not only provides a great nights entertainment but is thought provoking and educative, canvassing such topics as art, culture, education and the working class. But above all it shows, without being patronising or sentimental, that within everyone there is a spark of creativity regardless of class, race or creed.

The Ashington Group are a bunch of Northumbrian miners who, as part of the Workers’ Educational Association, engage an art teacher from Newcastle, Robert Lyon (Gavin Rutherford), who is as upper class as they are working class, to run an art appreciation class.

In the group are George (Patrick Davies), the dour stickler for following the committee rules, Oliver (Guy Langford), the sensitive one who has the potential for becoming a professional painter, Jimmy (Richard Dey), the no nonsense down-to-earth tell-it-like-it-is guy. Then there’s the innocent and naïve Young Lad (Simon Leary) and Harry (Phil Vaughan), the only non-miner who relishes quoting Marx at every opportunity but has a heart gold.

Over a period of 13 years a synergy develops between Lyon and the miners and through the course of the play we see, under Lyon’s tutelage, not only how the group develops and grows but how this is a journey of self discovery for the men, albeit differently for each, and how with no education and little money, they become celebrity painters.

They are also aided on their journey by Helen Sutherland (Catherine Downes), an extrovert and art patron.

And in this production what makes Hall’s play work so effectively is Ross Jolly’s astute directing and superb casting of all the characters. Without exception each actor brings a depth and confidence to their performance that not only brings out the humour in the play but often the underlying moments of anguish, anger, animosity and many other emotions as they go on a rollercoaster ride to stardom.

Also adding much to the success of the production is John Hodgson’s multifunctional set and particularly Johann Nortje’s creative integration of slide projections of the men’s paintings that allows the audience to be involved as much as the characters in the discussion of their work to make this excellent production of a great play a most satisfying evening of theatre.

OTHER REVIEWS

David Farrar, Kiwiblog, 10 October 2014