Location: Lyttelton Theatre Type of production: Play Opened: 02 September 2009

Booking until: 07 February 2010

Running time: 2 Hrs 30 Mins

Author/Playwright: Lee Hall, William Feaver

Director: Max Roberts



Synopsis:

The Pitmen Painters, in Max Roberts’ perfectly pitched and acted production, manages to be tragic, funny and illuminating in one fell swoop of energy.’
5 stars Evening Standard

‘Breathtaking in its scope, Lee Hall’s remarkable play provides a fascinating debate about art and socialism.’
Guardian

‘Lee Hall’s new play and Max Roberts’ sublime production are ablaze with intellectual vigour, political passion and incendiary emotional energy. A beautiful work of art that everybody should see.’
The Times

'A wonderful piece of theatre: comic, sad and stirring in the same breath.’
Financial Times

In 1934, a group of Ashington miners 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.

Following sell-out seasons at Live Theatre Newcastle and in the Cottesloe, The Pitmen Painters returns, this time to the Lyttelton. Lee Hall’s new play is a humorous, deeply moving and timely look at art, class and politics.