Lee Hall’s hit play about a group of artistic miners, The Pitmen Painters, is to receive a West End outing at the Duchess theatre from 5 October (press night 11 October).
The play premiered at Newcastle’s Live Theatre before running at the National Theatre in 2008, receiving an Olivier Award nomination the following year. It subsequently returned to the National before transferring to Broadway in September 2010.
Based on a true story and inspired by a book by William Feaver, The Pitmen Painters is set in 1934 when a group of Ashington miners hired a professor to teach an art appreciation class. They quickly abandoned theory for practice and began to paint prolifically. Within a few years their work was highly sought after, yet they all continued to work, as before, down the mine.
Author Hall is best known for writing the screenplay for the film Billy Elliot
and its subsequent stage adaptation, which won him a Best New Musical Olivier Award. His other work includes Spoonface Steinberg, Cooking With Elvis and The Good Hope.
The Pitmen Painters comes to the West End following a UK tour which takes in Greater London venue Richmond theatre from 11 to 16 July.
Currently playing at the Duchess theatre is Simon Gray’s Butley, starring Dominic West, which ends its run on 27 August.
CB