New musical Jobling to be premiered in South Shields

Jonathan Cash and Helen Cash, who feature in Jobling. Pictured with Tom Kelly.

Penned by Tom Kelly, Jobling will be staged at the cultural venue in the Market Place, South Shields, from 4pm on June 24.

As part of the Write Festival 2017, The Word is hosting a script-in-hand performance of Jobling, a show based on events surrounding William Jobling, Jarrow pitman and the last man gibbeted in the north in 1832.

It will be performed by a cast of six actors alongside the Westoe Brass Band, finalists in the forthcoming National Brass Band Championships.

William Jobling was tried and hanged at Durham, then gibbeted on Jarrow Slake for his part in the murder of South Shields magistrate Nicholas Fairles.

The action moves between 1831 and 1832 in the north east and London: from the 1831 Binding Strike, a year after the birth of the Northern Union of Pitmen, led by Tommy Hepburn, to the gibbeting of Jobling in August 1832.

The performance is to be directed by Jonathan Cash, of Baby Love Productions, based in Blaydon.

He said: “I was really excited when Tom approached me to put together a cast to present the show. It’s powerful stuff. Tom has been researching this subject for some years and what he doesn’t know about Jobling isn’t worth knowing.

“I should say that, despite the seriousness of the subject, the show also has its lighter moments. There is a good deal of banter between the miners and the rumbustious wedding scene is a particular highlight. “

•Tickets are available online at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk