Lee Hall’s play The Pitmen Painters is a humorous, deeply moving and timely look at art, class and politics.

Following sell-out seasons at Live Theatre Newcastle and in the National’s Cottesloe theatre, The Pitmen Painters returns to the London and the National Theatre, this time to the larger Lyttelton theatre.

The Pitmen Painters tells the story of a group of Ashington miners who, in 1934, hired a professor to teach an art appreciation evening class. Rapidly abandoning theory in favour of practice, the pitmen began to paint. Within a few years the most avant-garde artists became their friends and their work was acquired by prestigious collections; but every day they worked, as before, down the mine.

Playwright Hall, who wrote The Pitmen Painters in 2007, is best known as the man who wrote the screenplay for successful British film Billy Elliot, winning an Oscar nomination in the process. He continued his association with the project by adapting the piece for the stage, helping to create Billy Elliot The Musical with director Stephen Daldry and director Elton John. Hall’s other plays include Spoonface Steinberg and Cooking With Elvis, while his screen work includes 2008 film Hippie Hippie Shake and the 2007 television adaptation of The Wind In The Willows, which starred Matt Lucas, Bob Hoskins and Imelda Staunton.

For more about The Pitmen Painters read the First Night Feature from the production’s earlier sold out staging at the National Theatre Cottesloe.