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Gifts from The Morning Star
Wonderland, Hampstead Theatre London
Powerful reminder of the war against the miners in 1984-85

BETH STEEL'S Wonderland, the second of Hampstead Theatre’s trio of free online productions, was originally performed in 2014.

Even then, its hard-hitting political message — presented through a mixture of song and documentary commentary — must have reminded those with long memories of John McGrath’s innovatory 7:84 touring company of the 1980s.

Dealing with Thatcher’s carefully pre-planned and ruthless 1984-85 war against the miners, Edward Hall’s production takes us down the pit, where we meet the Iron Lady’s “enemy within” — the men who worked in an environment and under conditions that for most people would be viewed as a daily hell.

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