Pride the Musical Finds the Joy in a True Story of Miners and Gay Activists

Pride | National Theatre until 12th September 2026

A true story of two communities who had nothing in common, and everything to gain, by standing together.

Pride is a show about humanity, which is precisely why everyone can connect to it. It’s amazing to realise just how good people can be, leaving you with a simple, timely message: if you want change to happen, you have to come together, you can’t do it in separate, disparate groups.

It’s taken over a decade to get here. The story began as the 2014 film Pride, directed by Matthew Warchus and written by Stephen Beresford, and starring Imelda Staunton and Bill Nighy. It was a wonderful film, and one of the only ones I’ve seen where the audience burst into spontaneous applause at the end. I remember it getting exactly that reaction when we showed it at Trinity Theatre during my time as Artistic Director there.

Now, Warchus and Beresford have reunited for this stage version, this time with an original score from Christopher Nightingale, Josh Cohen, and DJ Walde. It had its world premiere earlier this year at the Sherman Theatre in Cardiff before transferring to the Dorfman at the National in June. Its life isn’t over yet, as it’s already been announced for an open-ended run at the Bridge Theatre in November.

At the heart of it all is a true story that’s almost too good to be believed. In the summer of 1984, twenty-four-year-old activist Mark Ashton founded Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, forging an alliance between gay and lesbian activists in London and the striking pit communities of South Wales, two communities that, on paper, had nothing in common. Ashton died young in 1987, but the alliance he started has kept finding new audiences, first through the film and now through this production.

It celebrates the north of England and Wales, carried along by that glorious Welsh choral tradition, and it’s very funny. But underneath the comedy, it’s about community, inclusivity, and disparate people coming together for a common cause. Like so many musicals, it lives and dies by its book. You can have the greatest songs in the world (Chess is my go-to example of that going wrong) and still end up with a show nobody cares about. Pride gets the book right.

Apparently, the makers did consider a jukebox musical, built from songs of the period that appeared in the film, and wisely, in my view, they didn’t; instead, they commissioned an original score. There isn’t a big “I Know Him So Well” moment, no song you leave the theatre humming, but you leave tremendously moved all the same, even knowing the outcome, and it isn’t necessarily the happiest of outcomes. And boy, do we need this now: a show about inclusivity and coming together, told in a way that’s clever and moving without ever being hectoring or patronising.

The staging matches the story. It’s deliberately rough and ready, a scaffolding set, the band in full view, the cast moving furniture on and off themselves, and it absolutely suits the material. This is not a show that wants a Blade Runner-esque, all-bells-and-whistles production. I heard the director, Matthew Warchus, talking about how he’s looking forward to the move to the Bridge Theatre and the difference between four hundred people laughing together and eight hundred. I’ll be fascinated to see how they scale the show up while keeping hold of that essence when it makes the move in November.

This is truly an ensemble piece, but is led by Samuel Barnett, who is most probably best known as a former History Boy. He plays Jonathan, who is unapologetically his own person. He’s fun and flamboyant and has a wonderful opening-of-Act-Two moment that I won’t spoil! Mark Ashton is normally played by Jhon Lumsden, but he was indisposed on the performance that I attended, and the role was admirably taken by Daniel Forrester, again demonstrating the versatility of understudies and their sheer talent in being able to take over roles at short notice. Indeed, I believe the production has been plagued by a few cancelled performances due to cast illnesses. There were other roles being covered by other members of the company that evening, but you would never know!!

The remainder of the cast are a versatile, tight-knit ensemble who morph seamlessly into different characters in the evening, which itself contributes to the theatrical magic on display.

Pride is everything a great musical should be: funny, fierce, and full of joy, built on a true story that somehow feels more unbelievable than fiction, and told with real warmth and clarity of purpose. It’s a triumphant reminder of what people can achieve when they stand together, and an essential piece of theatre for right now.

This is the kind of show EyeOnLondon hopes finds an even bigger audience at the Bridge Theatre from November, so catch it at the National first if you possibly can.

For more London arts and culture, visit EyeOnLondon at eye-on-london.com.

[Image Credits | Manuel Harlan]

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