Banbury Cross and Brassed Off..........

No one can accuse Banbury Cross Players of lacking courage when it comes to choosing their productions.

The latest offering was ‘Brassed, Off’ adapted by Paul Allen from Mark Herman’s screenplay of the same name.

The play directed by Clare Lester centres round the Grimley Colliery Band and climaxes with its finest hour of winning the national Brass Band Championship at the Albert Hall amid the knowledge their colliery had been closed which will lead to their disbandment. (No pun intended).

Hats must be raised to Ms Lester for knowing where to begin with such a production. Well you need a band for a start and this role was more-than-ably-filled by the Hook Norton Brass Band. Being based in Banbury the plucky musicians marched and played their way through the events with much aplomb.

Neatly slotted into the music numbers were four actors who I presume weren’t qualified musicians but you wouldn’t have known as it was so neatly done.

The show opened with a short narrative by Shane the eldest son of a miner who has fallen on hard times through supporting the Miners strike some ten years earlier. Shane impressively played by such a young Max Taylor set the scene and the mood by his assessment of the situation. His appraisals popped up frequently to link the many scene changes involved in this epic tale. His father Phil, through no fault of his own, didn’t convince as the son of Danny the bandleader simply through the lack of age difference. Apart from that he did convince as someone who simply had no money due to the amount of debt he had accrued. His wife Sandra (Helen Williams) gave her best as the wife at the end of her tether leading to her and the four children leaving Phil for the sanctuary of her mothers house.

The scene following Phil’s near-suicide fell apart a tad as we all saw him step down from his gallows in the gloom whereas if a curtain had been drawn across him at this point it would have made a much stronger and emotive statement.

The love interest of the piece was ably supplied by Andy (Rob Hall) rekindling his romance with Gloria (Tara Lacey-Rousou) after she turns up at Band practice one night, having returned from living in London where she now works for the Coal Board and is being employed to assess the viability of the Grimley pit.

Relations are strained when Andy and his mates find Gloria is indeed employed by Management but revived when her report stating the pit was profitable is ignored and closed anyway. An act that we are in no doubt actually happened on more than one occasion following the disastrous miners strike of the 1980’s.

Nik Lester and Heward Simpson play Jim and Harry two miners who seem to except their fate whilst their wives Rita (Karen Stiff) and Vera (Elizabeth Riley) demonstrate throughout the play with cries of ‘Miners United Will Never be Divided’’ and other such slogans. Although put over with much force and volume in the Old Mill Arts Centre they were not heard in the annals of power in London and news that the pit was to be shut came as no surprise to anyone.

The part of leader and soul of the Grimley Colliery Band was played admirably by Andy Allen. However shades of the late Pete Postlethwaite who made the part of Danny his own in the 1996 film were evident in the conviction and depth of feeling that Andy Allen gave to his part of the dying bandleader. He knows that the times they-are-a-changing big time for the mining community and his beloved band will go the way of the pits as their pride is pulled out from under their feet and trampled on.

Brassed Off is a touching story and bravely attempted by BCP.

It was a pity more use wasn’t made of the big white screen at the rear of the stage. Some images were shown at one point during the performance to highlight the plight of the miners but it didn’t really work as a short one off. ‘Tis a pity the ploy wasn’t used more to enhance the mood and settings of the drama, this would have made up more for the lack of sets and scenery. However Brassed Off played to sold out audiences every night and a further performance had to be slotted in to cope with demand.

In all, yet another success for the Banbury Cross Players.

Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here