Oldham Coliseum's upcoming production of Lee Hall's The Pitmen Painters is based on the true story of The Ashington Group.
It’s the second production at the Coliseum to follow a theme of plays in which working-class characters are questioning the world around them. Others include Educating Rita (October 2015), Our Gracie, a new play on the life of Gracie Fields (March 2016), and Pygmalion (May 2016).
The Ashington Group were Northumberland miners who, in 1934, employed Robert Lyon, master of Painting at Kings College Newcastle, to teach an evening class in Art Appreciation. Lectures on the Old Masters from a posh academic were lost on the pitmen and so instead Lyon taught them to paint, with amazing results.