By Miryam Gordon, SGN A&E Writer

The Pitmen Painters
ACT Theatre
Through May 20

'We're pitmen!' they announce repeatedly, these proud English coal miners in The Pitmen Painters at ACT Theatre. They are all coal miners except for one dentist, who decides 'dental mechanic' sounds more coal-like, and they are taking an art appreciation class after work to enhance their understanding of the rest of the world.

Well, they really wanted an economics class, but since it wasn't being offered by the Workers' Education Association, they signed up for art appreciation, instead. This is what Robert Lyon (Frank Lawler) finds as he walks in to teach the first class. He sets up his slide projector and begins to show classic paintings of cherubs and angels, throws a few artists' names around like Leonardo DaVinci, and quickly realizes he's already gone too far.

This wonderfully funny and thoughtful play is based on a real story about coal miners who became celebrated painters in the 1930s and '40s. Playwright Lee Hall draws from the same well of inspiration as his screenplay, Billy Elliot, the hard-working coal town. He based the play on a book by William Feaver. And as has been a terrific trend in the last year, the play comes to Seattle very close in time to its Broadway debut in 2010.

The pitmen are vigorously played by Daniel Brockley, Jason Marr, Joseph P. McCarthy and Charles Leggett. R. Hamilton Wright plays the Marxist dentist who fits in well with the miners since the 1930s were a zenith in ideas about workers' rights and supporting the collective and a collective ownership.

In fact, the clash between individualism and collectivism is a subtle undercurrent in the play as they all develop skills and reputation as a group, and then one particularly good painter is offered a stipend by a wealthy patron (Morgan Rowe) to stop mining and just paint. Jason Marr is particularly poignant as the challenged miner who has an impossible decision to make: to break away from the group that supported and created his work, or to affirm the 'all for one, one for all' ethic the painting takes place under.

The simple surroundings of Carey Wong's set, with large screens for projecting the various paintings and slides that help show the moving-through-time dates of the action, elegantly creates the atmosphere of the play. Costumes by Catherine Hunt are a subtle support along with soft interior-lighting from Ben Zamora and authentic coal-mining sound accents from Brendan Patrick Hogan. Director Kurt Beattie keeps the short scenes popping and the in-the-round stage floor quick-changed in mere seconds to focus on the razor-sharp dialogue by the talented cast.

The accents, a difficult northern English, do sometimes get a bit muddy, and diction could use a boost, but the jokes fly, the characterizations are fully realized and the subject is clear. Christine Marie Brown supports in a tiny role as a body model, and Brockley doubles in a brief scene as a bred-to-paint artist who has little in common with the miners.

This is exceptionally enjoyable, especially for those who like entertainment that also gives you something to think or talk about. For more information, go to www.acttheatre.org or call 206-292-7676. Discuss your opinions with sgncritic@gmail.com.

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