REVIEW: QUEENS OF THE COAL AGE @ ROYAL EXCHANGE MANCHESTER

The plight of Britain’s mining communities has certainly provided writers and audiences with some terrific entertainment. From Brassed Off through Billy Elliot and latterly Pride to name but three, the devastating impact of Margaret Thatcher’s government on our coal industry has been documented brilliantly. Now, Maxine Peake throws her cap in’t pit with a look at an incident from the very dying days of the struggle – 1993 at Lancashire’s Parkside Colliery. Here four women decide to stage a sit-in to try to dissuade the coal board to keep the facility open. The fact that one of the women is the wife of Arthur Scargill, the prime motivator in strike actions of the decade long struggle, adds extra coal to the fire as it were.

Peake’s play began life as a forty-five minute BBC radio broadcast in 2013, now the Royal Exchange Theatre have staged an expanded version to create a piece which offers further insight into the motivations of the four women. Joining Anne Scargill are Dot, Lesley and Elaine – all married to miners (or in one case divorced from one) and all eager to make their voice heard to an uncaring government who are decimating their lives and families.

There are plenty of opportunities for comedy of course. Their stealth operation to get down to the pit head involving disguises and code words is sheer sitcom territory. Peake has clearly got a few tips from her one time mentor Victoria Wood. Once they descend in the cage, and announce to their tour guide that they are a core representing Women Against Pit Closures and intend to stage a sit-in, they face the full wrath of the suits and ties managerial bods who try to threaten, cajole and intimidate them out of the pit. When they are finally alone and in the pit office “What do we do now?” one of them asks. “Clean up” is the obvious answer.

Bryony Shanahan’s production in the magnificent Royal Exchange auditorium gives us an echo of the dark, cold foreboding conditions that the miners themselves experience. Designer Georgia Lowe creates a simple yet highly effective setting to represent the women’s situation which lets the production breathe. Kate Anthony as Anne Scargill delivers a feisty performance, giving us a woman who has weathered the storm of public opinion on her husband which has resulted in the victimisation of her family. She wants her voice to be heard above and beyond her husband. To make a contribution to the struggle in her own right. Eve Robertson as school teacher Elaine gets the brunt of the other ladies’ ribbing – particularly when it transpires the ‘Coal Not Dole’ stickers she has smuggled in her knickers have come away from their backing sheet... Lesley (Danielle Henry) and fervent activist Dot (Jane Hazelgrove) complete the daring quartet although doubts begin to creep in and fears are voiced, the unity of the four is ultimately unwavering. They find help in young miner Michael (played excellently by an understudy with clipboard script due an injury in the company) who delivers contraband chocolate, fizzy pop, biscuits and letters of support from the miners above ground. John Elkington excels in three roles, going from officious bureaucrat to weary miner,  adding classy support to proceedings.  The bulk of the play though revolves around our militant four.  And each one of the ladies on stage deliver spot on performances,  sparkling in the darkness.

The play makes all the pertinent points from the women about their lives, loves and being the playthings of the Government’s policy to close down coal production. Peake’s play could do with a little bit of editing here and there, fifteen minutes could be lost without watering down the over-riding message of belief and empowerment. But it is none the less a fine production, as miners wander through the set with their helmet torches shining in the darkness during the scene changes, the strength and bravery of the women is almost tangible. 

The plight of the coal communities echoes feelings we all have at how big name consumerism has gobbled up our towns, leaving in its wake a battered and wounded national identity. Whether Thatcher did right to shut down the coal faces will remain open to political debate, but that decision cost a lot of people their jobs, pride and dignity. That Women Against Pit Closures continued the struggle when it was clearly lost, demonstrates that they embodied a spirit and determination to go down fighting to the very end. A spirit that ultimately made them heroes not losers. It remains a piece of our social history in which we should all be proud and equally should always be celebrated. 

Queens Of The Coal Age plays the Royal Exchange Manchester until  28^th July and then the New Vic Theatre, Staffordshire from 7^th – 29^th September 2018.