The Hired Man

Published Monday 1 October 2007 at 11:05 by Pat Ashworth

It dares us to feel pity but commands us to feel respect. What a stroke of genius to send Melvyn Bragg’s robust and unsentimental depiction of rural struggle out on tour, into village communities where some of the issues still resonate in a new age.

This brilliant chamber production uses just eight actors to bring alive a whole era before, during and after the First World War, when working people in Cumbria grappled with the barrenness of the land and the harshness of the pits. From the hiring fair at Crossbridge to the mud of Passchendale, the men and women exhibit a resilience and dignity that really move.

Howard Goodall’s lyrics are tough and impassioned, sometimes beaten out to the hitting of shovels in hard earth and sung throughout with intensity and fervour. The piano score is enhanced with trumpet and occasionally violin to deliver songs of great tenderness, such as Day Follows Day and What Would You Say to Your Son? Angry, monosyllabic protests such as War, sung in the nightmare of the trenches, are mitigated by gentler, comic lyrics - “He’s a nice enough lad but I’m scared of his dad”.

The story, based on the life of Bragg’s grandfather, highlights the miners’ struggles for reform and the farm workers’ for a living wage. Every word counts and it’s impeccably delivered, much of it in chorus. There are fine performances all round, especially from Richard Colvin as John, Claire Sundin as Emily, Lee Foster as Harry and Katie Howell as May. It is simply awesome.