REVIEW: THE BEVIN BOYS by Viv Edwards at Pentameters Theatre, Hampstead, 12 - 21 July 2019

Kate Pettigrew • Jul 13, 2019

 “A little nugget of gold about young men conscripted to work in the mines in the Second World War.” ★★★★
 
I think we always go to the theatre hoping to find a play that is a little nugget of gold. THE BEVIN BOYS, the little told story of young men conscripted to work in the mines during the Second World War, is just that.
It is the tale of two young men, sensitive, posh Billy (Tom Taplin) and cocky Cockney Jim (David Angland), played wonderfully by both, who are two of 48,000 young teens to 25s conscripted during the Second World War to dig coal. 

They are known as Bevin Boys after Ernie Bevin, the government minister who brought in the scheme in 1943. By then, the mines had lost 36,000 men to the armed forces and there was a desperate need for miners to dig coal and, literally, keep the home fires burning. 

Viv Edwards wonderful play, developed with Pentameters and producer Leonie Scott-Matthews, focuses on why the young men are there, their struggle and the reactions to them. 

Some were chosen by ballot, and this upset many young men like Jim who just wants to fight Gerry, but he has a chequered past that becomes more obvious as the play unfolds. Billy denies he is a “conchie”, a conscientious objector, in the mines where the conchies were allowed to work, and often what Bevin boys were wrongly called. But Billy’s pacifism does not stop him helping Jim who is having a difficult time coming to terms with what he is doing.

These two young actors took us emotionally through the nightmare of being in a deep, dark mine, coping with the demons down there and in their heads. Their timing, and interaction with each other, was tight. Their responses and chemistry were rough, raw and physical, yet sensitively emotional, especially when Billy (Taplin) sings to Jim (Angland) to comfort him and Billy comes to a realisation of his own. 

These Englishmen also have another fight, with the few Welsh miners who are left in their traditional pit, but who will be asked to come out of the dark underground into daylight to sing with the male voice choir and who will be asked to billet above with a Welsh family?

The soundstage with wartime songs worked well as did the staging, a backdrop showing receding mine shafts.
Many years ago, I worked with a much older colleague who was known by his hacking cough. At one point, I had the temerity to say to him it might be better if he packed in the Capstan full strengths. He focused a world-weary eye on me and said: “My dear, it’s not the smokes that caused it, it was my time down the mine as a Bevin boy.” The effects on the Bevin Boys after the war is something not looked at in this play but does not detract from it. It just makes me more aware of the legacy of the Bevin Boys and what my colleague went through.

I would love to see this play on a bigger stage and with the same cast. Top stuff. Go see it.

Box Office: 020 7435 3648
 
The Bevin Boys, Pentameters Theatre, Hampstead.
Until July 21 2019: 
Written by Viv Edwards
Cast -
David Angland: Jim
Tom Taplin: Billy
Directer: Jay Tee
Ass Director: Benjamin Wong
Produced by Léonie Scott-Matthews
Sound: Ng Sze Min
Lighting and Sound: Robyn Williams
Set: Godfrey Old
Ass Set Designer: Mia Foo

Reviewer Kate Pettigrew is a Fleet St journalist. Her plays have covered Brexit, dementia and talking sheep. 

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