Review: Brassed Off, York Stage Musicals, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until October 27

11:38am Thursday 25th October 2007

AS chance would have it, Movie Connections on BBC1 marked the 11th anniversary of Mark Herman's tragicomic film Brassed Off on the night that York Stage Musicals began its week-long run of Paul Allen's stage adaptation.

Writer-director Herman, who lives in York, observed how he was not writing about the strikes but the devastating impact of the pit closures on Yorkshire's mining communities.

Gilly Adam's earthy, heartfelt production offers a new chance to reflect on Herman's words, and the sight of the colliery shaft wheel on the Rowntree Theatre stage and the first warm blast of The Floral Dance from The Shepherd Group Brass Band - in the guise of the Grimley Colliery Band - sets off memories as if the closures of 1994 were only yesterday.

Tears flow and laughter is stiffened with Yorkshire defiance, just as happened at York Theatre Royal's production in September 2004, and there is a link with that show: Luke Adamson has revived his role as young narrator Shane.

Luke still ably transforms himself into the football-loving, cheeky little lad living below the stale breadline with his long-suffering mum, Sandra (Jessica Hardcastle), his three siblings and his debt-troubled dad, Phil (Stuart Rae), whose spirit soon could be as broken as his trombone.

While the pit-village women parade their placards and feed families on scraps as the mine faces closure, the men draw strength from their music en route to the national championships under the zealous leadership of the pneumoconiosis-blighted Danny (an impassioned lead turn from former miner's son Ivan Chaplin).

Martyn Hunter's Jim and Graham Bilton in his stage comeback as Harry are masters of grumbling Yorkshire banter, while the ebb and flow of young love is well caught by Abbi Wright's Gloria, the British Coal researcher with an eye for figures, and Alex Papachristou's Andy, the ladies' man with an eye for her figure.

Phil's speech on the cusp of suicide and Danny's lament for human worth pull at your heart, and the live brass band music is a sound like no other, rousing yet haunting. Once more there is theatrical magic in Danny's wand-like baton, but unlike the old slag heaps, anger still won't subside.

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