图片源于：https://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/the-coiners-performed-by-the-halifax-thespians-grace-the-stage-of-the-playhouse-4702558
The story of the Cragg Vale Coiners – memorialised in Benjamin Myers’ novel the Gallows Pole and the TV series based on it – is brought to the stage by the Halifax Thespians in The Coiner’s Wife.
Written by Maurice Claypole and told from the perspective of Grace Hartley, wife of the coiner’s ringleader ‘King’ David, we are taken on a journey through 18th-century Britain from the highest in the land to the very poorest.
The coiners dealt in counterfeit money – and were a kind of brutal Robin Hood and his men in green. They diced with death as they sought to keep hunger from their doors – and those worse off.
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“The depth of characters we have in the play range from the former prime minister Lord Rockingham to the dirt poor coiners.
“This can be seen through the dialogue and costumes,” said director, Leighton Hirst.
“Maurice and I have worked closely together on the script and we will be as loyal as we can to the facts.
“Working with local historians, including David Glover, who has written a background article for the programme, we will be telling the whole story, from the beginning right through to the end.
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“It will be very different from the Gallows Pole TV series. It won’t be as opaque,” said Leighton.
From a remote weaver’s cottage in the bleak Yorkshire moors, a gang of counterfeiters, the ‘Cragg Vale Coiners’, launch a nefarious scheme that threatens to unsettle the currency of 18th-century England.
Bound in marriage to their leader, known locally as ‘King’ David, Grace Hartley, played by Kyra Marie, is torn between the forces of love, duty and conscience, while at the same time struggling with motherhood and the need to keep hunger at bay.
After the counterfeiters’ initial success, opposing forces gather, led by William Dighton, Supervisor of Excises, played by Patrick Higgins, who sets in motion a series of events that have momentous consequences,
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Part of Calderdale’s Culturedale celebrations The Coiner’s Wife has a big cast with 11 speaking parts and a group of extras playing the coiners.
Alongside Kyra Marie as Grace Hartley, David Hartley is played by Paul Growcoot; Isaac Hartley is played by Wayne Illingworth; William Hartley by Roy Greenwood and Bessie Hartley by Rachel Collins.
Alongside Patrick Higgins as William Dighton, Ella Dighton is played by Cait Jennings, Robert Parker by Richard Taylor, Anne Parker by Rebecca Ford, James Broadbent by Patrick Foster, Lord Rockingham by Michael Crowley and Edie by Louise Longford.
The show runs at the Halifax Playhouse from Tuesday July 23 to Saturday July 27.
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Performances are daily at 7.30pm plus a Saturday matinee at 2.30pm.
Tickets range from £6 to £12 with an opening night offer of two for £12.
There is parking near the theatre and there is a theatre bar.
