A powerful one-man play comes to Clowne

On Friday 28^th June at 7.30pm Clowne Parish Church are staging the Hand on the Tap production ‘Without Malice or Ill Will’, an award winning play written and performed by Ray Castleton.

The main character, Geoff Marsh began his working life as a coal miner. Ten years later he became a Police Officer. Ten Years after that he faced his old mates across the picket lines during the year-long strike. A year which became the most bitter and divisive in British industrial history. Here, Geoff tells the personal story of his family, his career and the choices he made during the year that changed everything. The story of a man gripped by the dilemma of the choice between family, friends, community and the duty to his oath and uniform.

“Ray Castleton, both writer and performer, is pitch perfect. He is every inch the retired policeman, affable yet authoritative – but moving through the events of 1984 he evokes confusion and disbelief at the way policing changes, and officers from outside the community taunt and confront the miners. He moves effortlessly through the gears as his anger surfaces, reflecting on how events take their toll on his community, and his deep and abiding sadness at how he and his family are affected as they become perceived as being on the wrong side.” — Stephen Walker, Buxton Fringe Guru

Tickets for this powerful play, currently on tour, are £10 (including a drink) and are available from Clowne Parish Church (Church Lane, Clowne, S43 4AZ), tel. 07960 735352 to book or purchase tickets on Tuesday afternoons from the church or church services in Barlborough and Clowne.