STEVE ANDREW enjoys an account of the many communities that flourished independently of and in resistance to the empires of old
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Mining history to mark anniversary of coal industry nationalisation
On Behalf of the People
[Tom Jackson]
TOM STONE urges you to catch the last dates of a New York singer/songwriter, never afraid to challenge her audiences musically or politically
JAN WOOLF examines work that aims to give viewers a material experience of the environments in the polar north and Britain equally affected by the climate crisis
The bard recalls advice received 50 years ago from his TRB muse, and sorts out appropriate legislation for football club ownership
MICHAL BONCZA and MARIA DUARTE review Facing War, Kontinental ’25, Bugonia, and Relay
MAYER WAKEFIELD is frustrated by a production of Ibsen’s classic study of an anti-heroine that fails to elucidate her motivations
PETER MASON tunes his ear into the domestic affairs of a Carribbean couple with a troublesome son
On Behalf of the People
Carriageworks Theatre, Leeds
COMMISSIONED by the National Coal Mining Museum for England, this production of On Behalf of the People is one of the events commemorating the 70th anniversary of the nationalisation of the mining industry.
Written after extensive research at the museum and in former mining communities, Ray Castleton has created a family drama for The Melting Shop, which wears its political allegiance close to its heart.
The recognisable character types are imbued with just enough humanity to sidestep outright stereotype in a play whose focus is the generational conflict between George Mason (Ray Ashcroft) — a committed union man and Labour supporter who returned from WWI to find that the promised “land fit for heroes” was a lie — and his son Tom (Danny Mellor), a modestly aspirational veteran of the second world war.
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