Brassed Off – Octagon Theatre, Bolton
The Octagon Theatre in Bolton resounds to the sound of beautiful Brass this Autumn as we open their new season with an adaptation by Paul Allen of the iconic 90’s film of the same name, exploring the effect of the Miners’ strike through the prism of the Colliery band. Set a decade after the seminal events of 1984, Director Liz Stevenson has successfully transferred some of the grit of the original to the stage and added wistful musicality to the mix, but the authenticity of working-class culture is missing, sacrificed on the altar of whimsical nostalgia and an inappropriate feel good ending.
The set design (Simon Kenny) evokes the disused grandeur of a closed coal mine, the broken Colliery wheel is suspended above a black circular stage, a conveyor littered with coal and acting as a ram...