Award-winning dance drama Coal at Cast Theatre in Doncaster

The drama, the tragedy and the unbreakable spirit of a working-class community fighting for its future'¦the multi award winning show the critics hailed as '˜urgent and heroic' and '˜emotional dynamite' is back.
Production of Coal at Cast Theatre in DoncasterProduction of Coal at Cast Theatre in Doncaster
Production of Coal at Cast Theatre in Doncaster

From the Gary Clarke Company, named Best Independent Company at the prestigious Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards, Coal is back at Cast on Wednesday February 14.

Given a Four-Star review by The Times and hailed as ‘both humane and powerfully dramatic’ by The Guardian, COAL is a riveting dance theatre show that takes a nostalgic look at the hard-hitting realities of life at the coal face.

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Strong, powerful and emotive, Coal explores the darker underbelly of the mining industry, unearthing the true nature and body wrecking demands of a working-class industry now almost completely forgotten. It is based on years of personal research by Gary Clarke including extensive interviews with Anne Scargill – former wife of NUM president Arthur Scargill – and Betty Cook, the founders of Women Against Pit Closures.

He also spent time with Chris Skidmore of the National Union of Mineworkers, Bruce Wilson, author of Yorkshire’s Flying Pickets, Barnsley historian and author Brian Elliott and Paul Winter of the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign.

Gary Clarke said: “Coal is a direct response to my upbringing in the working-class mining village of Grimethorpe, South Yorkshire. It’s about trying to capture a time in British history that is too easily forgotten. It is an attempt at keeping the memories of the mining industry alive, an industry that I believe shaped the fabric of our society and how we live our lives today. These communities are at the heart of Coal.”

Tickets £17 (£15 under 26), call 01302 303 959.

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