The Pitmen Painters Mines Heart and Art

Dear friends,

I have just been to see The Pitmen Painters, Lee Hall's new play, and I wanted to sit down immediately and share with you my thoughts about it because the play is about aspiration and it moved me.

The play centres on a group of miners in Northeast England in the early 1930s who hired a lecturer to teach them about art appreciation.  Previously, they had sought and taken tutorials in geology, evolution, and the likes.  Their aim was simple:  they wanted to understand art.  They wanted to look at a painting and understand its meaning.  Robert Lyon, the lecturer, took pains to explain that art is subjective but soldiered on and started by showing picture slides of famous art, like Michaelangelo's work in the Sistine Chapel.  He soon found his efforts frustrated by the workers' scant education.  He then had the idea of letting the workers have a go at the brush themselves, and from each other's critique of the works, develop a sense of art appreciation.  The artworks that came out of these miners' hands surpassed expectations.  This is a true story.

Success as artists came to the miners.  The pitmen artists, who came to call themselves the Ashington Group, were feted at the Tate and the British Museum and their works were collected by Helen Sutherland, one of the foremost collectors of Modernism in the UK.  Their social circles expanded to include the important artists of their time.  They caught the nation's imagination and were featured in documentaries and debated over.  From here the play segued into (sometimes heated) exchanges questioning identity, the snobbery of the art world, and their own aspirations.  At times it feels like a companion piece to Billy Elliot, Lee Hall's earlier and most famous work.

Billy Elliot, The Pitmen Painters - the theme of cultural aspiration of the working class is obviously close to Lee Hall's heart having come from that background himself and who then went on to get a Cambridge education.  You may also notice by now that themes of aspiration vs identity seem to affect me especially (recall my review of The Faith Machine).  Could it be that I'm tired of breakfasting at Tiffany's?

This play is funny, moving, and well scripted and directed.  I commend director Max Roberts for making the decision to keep the stage bare and instead let the artworks speak for themselves.  I totally enjoyed the experience because it was like being in both an art gallery and a play at the same time.  Each of the actors is superb, particularly Brian Lonsdale.  I think he's got a long career ahead of him.  I kept staring at Ian Kelly because he looked familiar and thank you Google(!), I can now place him.  He played a doctor in Downton Abbey.


Until then, sweet-tarts. Kisses.

Hollie Go-Lightly

Links:
The Pitmen Painters
Lee Hall
Max Roberts
The Ashington Group
Brian Lonsdale
Billy Elliot