Samuel West directs CLOSE THE COALHOUSE DOOR at Oxford Playhouse

Tuesday 19 to Saturday 23 June

Led by two of Britain's foremost theatre artists, director Samuel West and Academy Award-winning writer Lee Hall, Alan Plater’s Close the Coalhouse Door is a theatrical highlight in Oxford Playhouse’s season, and plays from Tuesday 19 to Saturday 23 June.

Close the Coalhouse Door is an exhilarating ride through all the major strikes, victories and disappointments in British mining history. This musical play is structured around joyful and heart-tugging music by Alex Glasgow, inspired by folk songs of each period and performed by highly-skilled actor-musicians.

Director Samuel West is a celebrated actor and an Oxford Playhouse patron. Academy Award-nominee Lee Hall is renowned for writing the global hits Billy Elliot, The Pitman Painters and the screenplay for War Horse. For Close the Coalhouse Door, Lee Hall was commissioned to revisit the play adding a new ending to bring it up to date and include the critical 1984-5 miners’ strike.

Writer Alan Plater CBE was one of the greatest writers of the golden age of British television drama.  As well as 18 episodes of Z-Cars, he wrote Fortunes of War, The Beiderbecke Affair and A Very British Coup.  His work for the stage includes The Fosdyke Saga and Sweet William.

Tickets for Close the Coalhouse Door at Oxford Playhouse are available from the Ticket Office on 01865 305305 or book online at http://www.oxfordplayhouse.com