Gary Clarke Company - Coal

Winner of a UK Theatre Award & a Critics' Circle National Dance Award and described as 'emotional dynamite', Gary Clarke Company revives their multi-award-winning production COAL for 2027 - a riveting dance theatre show which takes a nostalgic look at the hard-hitting realities of life in the coalfields.

Originally created to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1984/85 British Miners’ Strike, COAL premiered in 2016 and toured extensively to critical and audience acclaim until 2018.

Strong, powerful and emotive, COAL explores the darker underbelly of the mining industry unearthing the true nature and body wrecking demands of a working-class community now almost forgotten. 

Bringing together Clarke’s powerful story telling with striking and highly physical choreography performed by 7 professional dancers, a local community cast of women and a live brass band, COAL is an emotional, moving and STILL ever-relevant exploration of community, solidarity and survival.

“All of us owe the comparative decency to poor drudges underground, blackened to the eyes with their throats full of coal dust, driving their shovels forward with arms and belly muscles of steel”  George Orwell (1934)

★★★★ "An absorbing, immediate slice of history rendered with the kind of emotional truth that deepens its impact as popular entertainment." -The Times

“One of the most powerful, moving pieces of theatre I’ve ever seen on the miners’ strike” - Paul Winter (Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign)

★★★★ “An absorbing, immediate slice of history rendered with the kind of emotional truth that deepens its impact as popular entertainment.” -The Times

★★★★ "Visceral piece of physical theatre recalling the shattering impact of the pit closures in the 1980s"- The Stage

★★★★★ “A profound and highly relevant contribution to remembering this painful, life changing period in our history.”- The Big Issue

★★★★ “Sense of startling authenticity that Clarke has managed to capture in COAL”- DanceTabs

“Unquestionably beautiful.” -British Theatre Guide

“Powerful and moving…a thrilling piece.” -The Sheffield Star

“A compelling look at the behaviour of real people under political and personal pressure.” - seeingdance.com

“Absorbingly powerful and affecting….” - The Herald (Glasgow)

“There is an authenticity to COAL few could match…” - The Scotsman

“A profound and highly relevant contribution to remembering this painful, life changing period in our history.” - Art Scene in Wales