Review: The Glee Club ***

We’ve not seen a production of this Richard Cameron, Yorkshire-rooted play in the region for a while and, consequently, this production is very welcome.

Efficient, spirited, with a great heart, it is a fine production. It manages to somehow, however, never quite plumb the dark depths that are present in the script, leaving a feeling that this is a missed opprtunity.

The Glee Club tells the story of a group of South Yorkshire miners in the Sxities who form a singing group to entertain themselves and others.

Like The Pitmen Painters, it is a play that returns their humanity to a group of men who spent their lives in subterranian conditions, but never let the lights go out on their hopes and dreams.

It is a perfect set-up – a group of hard-working, sometimes hard-drinking, men, discovering the inner part of their souls that responds to art – in their case, music. Each of the six characters brings their own story to the table and there are rich pickings.

The darkest secret is that harboured by Phil, played by Michael Chance. The musical director of the group, he has been blackmailed by the suggestion that he has been inappropriate with boy members of a choir in which he is involved. In a show of solidarity, the singing miners rally around – until another secret is brought to light.

The ensemble are all strong and entertaining, the efficient set well lit. It’s just that, with a little more mining, greater depth could have been found.

Doncaster Civic Theatre, October 10-12, Barnsley Civic, November 3-5.