Pitmen Painters

Another year of theater has begun.  

We kicked off the year with the Pitmen Painters at the Manhattan Theater Club.  A true story about a group of miners in England prior to WWII.  They had an art professeur come to their town to teach them art appreciation.  Most of these men had begun their jobs as miners at 10 years old.  As their exploration into the art world and their own personal painting grows, they become artists.  Their perspective changes, their minds grow as they begin to express themselves through art. It is a wonderful bit of English history.

Their work is shown and collectors begin to notice their work while they continue to be miners.  Everything changes after WWII ends once mining becomes nationalized.

What I enjoyed about the play is each individual character and watching their appreciation for art grow as they describe work through their eyes and have their "aha" moments as they begin to understand that art is about one persons journey.

Play could have easily been shorter by 30 minutes but I still enjoyed the play particularly knowing this is a small piece of history that I didn't know about until now.