It was a pioneering venture unlike any other: a place where miners and their families could take a week off by the sea, still get paid and be provided with bed, board and entertainment. People’s memories of the Derbyshire Miners’ Holiday Camp in Skegness form the basis of Welfare, a new work by British-Armenian playwright Abi Zakarian which is having a two-week run at Derby Theatre.
Zakarian, who was born and raised in Derby and comes from a mining family, has put together an all-encompassing piece. It not only tells the story of how the camp progressed but also highlights some of the social problems faced by miners and their families across the decades.
This is the type of show that Derby Theatre does so well: an expansive piece with a cast of ten, a large community company and the Derwent Brass band providing appropriate music. Director Sarah Brigham melds everything together with more aplomb than a union negotiator.
The play starts in the present with the camp in a derelict state. Kat, whose dad used to visit the camp, breaks in and takes photos of what remains. She meets Bingo Bob, the camp’s former bingo caller who reminisces about what a wonderful place it used to be.
Kat, played by an assured Tiana Maria Harrison, who becomes emotional when she hears some of the stories, and Bob, a jovial, charismatic Ivan Stott, move the action along as the miners experience unexpected lows as well as personal successes.
The camp, which opened as a miners' convalescence home in 1926, was turned into a holiday camp 13 years later. It was commandeered by the army during World War II, suffered damage during the 1953 North Sea flood, provided temporary accommodation for refugees after the Hungarian uprising in 1956 and was a focal point for fundraising during the miners’ strike of the 1980s.
Zakarian’s script is for the most part poignant, humorous and heart-rending as the lives of the miners’ families are laid bare. Occasionally, the pace slackens but picks up as we move into the next phase of the camp’s history.
There is a major contrast between the racial tension upsettingly revealed in the 1980s with the happiness experienced by the families through weddings and births.
Although the play is an ensemble piece, there are a couple of standout performances. Jo Mousley excels as Patty, the mother who wants only the best for her family. She also makes a surprise appearance as a formidable Margaret Thatcher during the strike. And John Holt-Roberts depicts Jack as the typical miner with manners which would now be described as old-fashioned.
Plaudits must also go to voice coach Anita Gilbert who enables the cast to get the Derbyshire accent—one that can be difficult to master—exactly right.
Let’s not forget the main event of the evening: bingo! Audience members were given a bingo card on their way in. At the end it was eyes down for a full house. Welfare deserves a full house; the standing ovation by many of the audience on press night showed they thought it was top of the shop.