This is an 80-minute journey back in time to the way the Potteries were before the War – blanketed with smoke, blackened with soot – making other areas look like holiday resorts. But the place was crammed with life – the markets, the shops, the special occasions, the characters. Burslem’s past is told in the rhymes and stories of Len Barnett, performed by a company of renowned local actors from the Stoke Repertory Theatre and other companies and with original music by Douglas Seville. Burslem Saturday, Thumbnail Sketch, The Knocker-Up, Clocking In, St.Joseph’s, The Gypsies, Red Wednesdays, Waiting Turns, Killer Pits, The Price of Coal, The Poor Lads, Vincent Riley, St. Paul’s Churchyard, A Professional Woman, The Staffordshire Bull, The Allotments, Haircut, A Middleport Wedding, The Bread Lads, Fat Emma’s Lobby, Wakes, By Appointment, The Potters of Stoke, Gifts.
