Close the Coalhouse Door: a stage play in three acts from stories by Sid Chaplin

by Alan Plater, Alex Glasgow (Lyricist), Sid Chaplin (Primary Contributor)

Adapted from Sid Chaplin' stories with Alex Glasgow's songs, this gritty musical about the coal industry in North-East England is regularly staged by all kinds of theatre companies and frequently revived. It has been described as a hymn of unqualified praise to the miners who created a revolutionary weapon without having a revolutionary intent.

Genres: Plays

104 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1969

About the author

Alan Frederick Plater CBE was an English playwright, novelist, and tv scriptwriter.

Reviews

[Bettie]

Bettie's Books

[Patrick Neylan]

A celebration of the pitmen of the North-East, in dialogue and song and with empathy as well as Plater's cheeky humour. The dignity of the working man and of 150 years of struggle, disappointment and betrayal are brought to life with humanity but not anger.

It struck a chord at the time (1968). As Plater writes in his introduction, "Strong men, only able to obtain tickets for the Saturday matinee, voluntarily missed football matches … greater love hath no man."

The honest, working-class play would soon become a cliché (witness the Monty Python working-class playwright sketch), but Close The Coalhouse Door reminds us that it could be both moving and powerful.