The Pitmen Poets, Pomegranate Theatre

Warhorse star Bob telling story of mining tradition in song.
Pitmen PoetsPitmen Poets
Pitmen Poets

After two sell-out UK tours in 2011 and 2013 , the Pitmen Poets’ planned world tour was put on hold when Bob Fox was offered a starring role as The Songman in the West End production of World War One drama Warhorse.

Now that Bob has stopped horsing around for a while, it is time for the Poets to ride again.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The Pitmen Poets celebrate the songs, humour and culture of the North East’s mining tradition, bringing together four of the region’s leading champions of its musical heritage.

They are ex-Lindisfarne and Jack The Lad singer and writer Billy Mitchell, Bob Fox, a regular on the international folk circuit, leading exponent of Tyneside song Benny Graham and songwriter Jez Lowe.

Since the first Pitmen Poets tour in 2011, Sam West’s revival of the seminal drama Close the Coalhouse Door has completed a triumphant UK tour and Lee Hall’s play Pitman Painters has been a hit in the West End and Broadway.

Interest in the North East’s mining tradition has never been more intense.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

With archive footage and photographs, this is a journey through the centuries of a once-great industry, from the songs that saw it thrive and dominate to those that saw its demise and the resulting aftermath.

The Pitmen Poets are in Chesterfield on Friday night.

Box office: call 01246 345222 or go to Chesterfield Theatres

The band are also performing at Cast in Doncaster on Friday, January 20, the Pavilion Arts Centre, Buxton, on Sunday 22 and Barnsley Civic on Friday 27.