THE PITMEN PAINTERS to Embark on UK Tour, March 2013

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Originally produced by Newcastle's acclaimed Live Theatre, and following sell-out seasons at The National Theatre, on Broadway and in the West End, Bill Kenwright presents the award winning play THE PITMEN PAINTERS, as it embarks on a new national tour in the spring of 2013.

Written by Lee Hall, creator of the worldwide sensation Billy Elliot, THE PITMEN PAINTERS has received huge critical acclaim and won the Evening Standard award for Best New Play.

In 1934, a group of Ashington miners hired a professor to teach an art appreciation evening class. Rapidly abandoning theory in favour of practice, the pitmen began to paint. Within a few years the most avant-garde artists became their friends and their work was acquired by prestigious collections; but every day they worked, as before, down the mine. Examining the lives of a group of ordinary men who do extraordinary things, THE PITMEN PAINTERS is a humorous, deeply moving and timely look at art, class and politics.

Lee Hall wrote the screenplay for Billy Elliot and adapted it for the West End in 2005, winning an Olivier Award for Best New Musical. Billy Elliot opened on Broadway in November 2008. His plays also include Spoonface Steinberg (Ambassadors), Cooking with Elvis (Live Theatre, Assembly Rooms and West End), and an adaptation of Herman Heijerman's The Good Hope for the NT.

Joe Caffrey will star as 'Harry Wilson', Philip Correia as 'Oliver Kilbourn', Suzy Cooper as 'Helen Sutherland', Catherine Dryden as 'Susan Parks', Louis Hilyer as 'Robert Lyon', Riley Jones as 'Ben Nicholson / Young Lad', Nicholas Lumley as 'George Brown', and Donald McBride as 'Jimmy Floyd'.

THE PITMAN PAINTERS - UK TOUR DATES 2013

Wednesday 13 - Saturday 16 March Box Office: 01753 853 888

Theatre Royal, Windsor Website: www.theatreroyalwindsor.co.uk

Monday 18 - Saturday 23 March Box Office: 0845 330 3565

Clwyd Theatre, Mold Website: www.clwyd-theatr-cymru.co.uk

Monday 25 - Saturday 30 March Box Office: 01684 892277

Festival Theatre, Malvern Website:http://www.malvern-theatres.co.uk/

Tuesday 2 - Saturday 6 April Box Office: 01702 351135

Palace Theatre, Southend Website: https://southendtheatres.org.uk

Tuesday 9 - Saturday 13 April Box Office: 01246 345 222

Pomegranate Theatre, Chesterfield Website: http://www.pomegranatetheatre.co.uk

Monday 15 - Saturday 20 April Box Office: 01274 432 000