Review: Undermined

Powerful and uncompromising, Undermined, which lasts just 50 minutes, is based on true stories and directed by Ben Butcher.

It’s a tribute to the calibre of both writing and acting that the young Wath-born Mellor earned a deserved standing ovation from former striking miners and activists at the end of this benefit performance for the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign. 

Undermined is told through young miner Dale. 

The 27-year-old Mellor’s grandad was a miner and his portrayal of Dale and his striking mates is compellingly authentic and totally believable. 

The tightly-worded script reflects the hours of research Mellor spent talking to ex-miners about their experiences at Orgreave and colliery picket lines during the epic, roller-coaster 12-month strike, which for many is still remembered as the best year of their life.   

Mellor, who studied drama at Hull University then acting at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, understands what the strike was about and manages to bring to life all the vivid reality of the human drama that unfolded. 

Men and women united to fight for their jobs and communities, contrasting that unique pit humour and wit with moments of sadness and poignancy. 

The play cleverly switches sharply from comedy to tragedy. 

So amidst the vicious police attacks on miners at the Battle of Orgreave, Dale realises the redness dripping from him is not blood but a paintbomb brought by one of his group as part of a daft plan. 

And when one of them is chased by police through Asda, he retorts: “Never shopping there again.” 

But when Dale returns home he is appalled by news reports biased against the pickets.

Like many children or grandchildren of striking miners, Mellor shows a visceral anger at Margaret Thatcher - who branded miners the “enemy within” - and disgust at the media’s coverage of the strike. 

He says he wrote Undermined because he has always been fascinated how this once strong industry that was mining could just disappear from sight. 

The set is bare and Mellor simply uses a denim jacket to indicate the time of year or location, while the 80s music tells its own story of changing times and shifts in mood from the excitement at the start of the strike to the emotion of the return to work at the end.

Minor quibbles are that the role of women is not developed and it’s not shown how close the strike came to winning.

But Mellor triumphs in his final rhyming monologue which sees Dale staring into the audience to ask: “When it’s your turn will you answer the call?”