This June, Search for productions and director Steven Feinstein brings playwright Neil Anthony Docking's award winning new play brought to life with an all South African cast 

Starring Michelle Douglas, Mary-Anne Barlow, Heidi Mollentze, Julie-Anne McDowell Hegarty and Marianthe Smart

In 1966, 116 school children and 28 adults were killed in a mining accident, where a landslide buried a primary school in Aberfan, South Wales. The event was blamed on the negligence of the National Coal Board, who also happened to be the largest employer in the town. The news sent shockwaves through the country fifty years ago, and now forms the foundation for Neil Anthony Docking's new play, fresh off the back of a run at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Docking introduces us to those left behind, the mothers of the dead, united by their loss. This isn't so much of a story as a powerful snapshot of grief, of women constantly reminded of their experiences yet forced to ask - how do you carry on? How do you move beyond the event? The topic is brimming with complexity and tragedy, more than is ever really possible to pack into an 85 minute running time.

Docking succeeds by, somehow, mixing the tragedy of the event with very real humour. It is startling to think that, given the subject matter, the audience left the theatre laughing. …The women tackle the tragedy by carrying on as they were, bouncing through conversational inanity with verve. The play charms, even as it echoes with sadness.

……………………………..It's hard to miss the play's relevance. Even though the sadness and grief of the Aberfan women was the main theme, it is tinged with a bubbling anger: "It was all about money. The cheapest solution. No one gave a s**t about us", one of the mothers retorts. After the events in west London earlier this year, this hits home. When it comes to infrastructure, the human cost always outweighs the financial savings.

"A funny, feisty, heart-wrenching story of how lipstick can look like hope" ★★★★ The Wee Review

R 100 online . R 120 at the door.

"a remarkably warm, sorrowful, and times even funny drama about survivors, small-town bickering, and make-up" ★★★★ The Independent

Audience Responses

Excellent performance by all actors! Great emotional story based on a very sad history and a deeper message on dealing with that pain.

Great play, great production, great acting - deserved a full house!!