Dance4, Gary Clarke Company

Returning to Nottingham Playhouse by popular demand, COAL was the winner of the 2016 UK Theatre Awards Achievement in Dance.

'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)

Created to mark the 30th anniversary of the end of the 1984/5 British miners’ strike, award winning choreographer Gary Clarke proudly presents COAL, a riveting dance theatre show which takes an nostalgic look at the hard hitting realities of life at the coal face.

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 industry now almost forgotten.

Bringing together Clarke’s striking physical language performed by a company of 7 stunning professional dancers, a local community cast of women and a live brass band, COAL is an emotional, moving and ever-relevant exploration of community, solidarity and survival.