The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists - Sunday 19th February

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THE struggle of working men and women will be brought vividly to life when Hartlepool’s Town Hall Theatre hosts an acclaimed adaptation of Robert Tressell’s classic book ‘The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists’ on Sunday 19 February.

Using songs of the period, comedy and characterisation to create the spirit and clarity of the political message, the play captures a year in the life of a group of painters and decorators as they renovate a three-storey town house for Mayor Sweater.

It traces their battle for survival in a complacent and stagnating Edwardian England – these workers are the “philanthropists” who throw themselves into back-breaking work for poverty wages in order to generate profit for their masters.

Performed as a two-hander, the production – which coincides with the hundredth anniversary of the author’s death – remains as vivid and relevant as the day it was written.

The themes and style of the piece are eternally relevant and provoking as it puts life and politics into sharp focus in an entertaining and accessible way.

Produced by Townsend Productions based on Stephen Lowe’s much-praised version of the novel, the show features Finetime Fontayne, who has appeared in a host of stage and television productions including All Creatures Great and Small, Cracker, Emmerdale and Coronation Street – in which he played Hilda Ogden’s lodger.

Joining him will be Neil Gore, a well-known face in the West End and at Chichester Festival Theatre.

Director Louise Townsend says: “The plight of Tressell’s ‘philanthropists’ will resonate for many people working and living in a tightening economy that sees wages and conditions being squeezed as the costs of living steadily rise.

“The very nature of the relationships of the people in the play will appear somehow familiar and similar to the modern audience’s own workplace and home experience.

“The abiding impression is one of how much is different from that time and now, but how little has changed.

“Tressell offers a solution by way of a co-operative and socialist vision and the play further examines the two directions that socialism could take at that time – the revolutionary path or the democratic parliamentary route.”

The show starts at 7.30pm and tickets cost £8, or £7 for concessions. To book call the Box Office on 01429 890000.

The production is sponsored by the GMB, PCS, RMT, Unite, UCATT and Accord unions and the TUC.