Close The Coalhouse Door
by Alan Plater

Close the Coalhouse Door was written, with the wise and loving inspiration of Sid Chaplin and adorned by the songs of Alex Glasgow, in 1968.

It has been revived at regular intervals ever since.

Initially we updated it, to accommodate Edward Heath and the Joe Gormley strikes; but eventually time took its revenges.

This new edition contains the version memorably presented at Newcastle's Live Theatre in 1994.

In the modern jargon, the history is bookended by scenes in the present day.

It is, as it ever was, a once upon a time story.

In 1968 we had a cast of ten plus walk-ons, five musicians and a full brass band on special occasions.

The new version is written for a cast of eight, who made their own music, again with a brass band on special occasions.

Theatrical resources have shrunk, though not as drastically as the coal industry.

The soul of the piece is unchanging.

We originally described it as "a hymn of unqualified praise to the miners - who created a revolutionary weapon without having a revolutionary intent'.

If, today, the hymn is more in the nature of an elegy, it is a strain that haunts the dreams of everyone with roots in the North-East.