A father is teaching his son how to box before dinner: growing up as a Yorkshireman in the mid twentieth century, trying to make a life for him and his family. In the present day, the same man fights for breath, where all he wants is to get through this and get home to Dot.

Dust is a new work from playwright Charlaina Thompson and actor Craig McArdle, exploring life in post-war northern England. Inspired by the stories of two men, Thompson’s great-grandfather and McArdle’s grandfather, we’re told about the man who goes from drinking with his mates to meeting the love of his life, to getting called up for National Service, before returning home to work in the coalmines. It’s a difficult life, though ‘lady luck’ sees him surviving tragedies that his friends didn’t, not least the Lofthouse Colliery disaster of 1973, where bad planning saw a new mine tunnel cut into an older, abandoned shaft, and millions of gallons of water flooded in.

McArdle throws himself into the part from the first breath, Wakefield accent loud and proud as he recounts with joy how he met his wife-to-be, and sadness when his best friend in the army gets posted to war. McArdle’s talent shines as he shifts up and down fifty years, the cold white spotlight of today’s breathlessness contrasting to the warmer light of years gone by.