A SHOW about the Victorian music hall star who inspired Pitman Poet Tommy Armstrong is coming to a community theatre.

The Great Joe Wilson is a play with music that deals with his rise to regional fame through Balmbra’s in Newcastle in December 1864 through to his death from TB in 1875, aged just 33.

A prolific lyricist, Wilson, left behind 360 great poems and songs, including Keep Your Feet Still Geordie, Hinny, and was known as The Bard of Tyneside.

He lived a fascinating life and his story is being put on stage by North-East playwright Ed Waugh at the Alun Armstrong Theatre in Stanley Civic Hall.

Mr Waugh said: “Joe wrote about working class life, and could encapsulate a fantastic story is a few verses.

“He was a brilliant writer, unafraid to take on any subject and his songs range from romance to shifting house, condemning domestic violence and supporting workers on strike.”

Wilson’s formative years were spent honing his craft as an amateur.

In 1863 he began singing his songs at the teetotal 1,000-capactity Working Men’s Club Room at 25 Nelson Street, in Newcastle city centre.

Among the songs he crafted here were some of his early classics Aw Wish Your Mother Wad Come, Sally Wheatley, The Row upon the Stairs, The Landlord’s Dawter and Dinnet Clash the Door.

Printing his own lyrics to sell at these amateur shows, Wilson quickly gained a formidable reputation and it was not long before bosses at the 2,000-seat Oxford in the Bigg Market, known as Balmbras, came knocking.

Mr Waugh added: “Joe’s debut and subsequent three-month residency at Balmbras started on December 26, 1864, but earlier in the month Joe’s first-ever professional booking was at Pelton.

“It was just a one-off gig but Joe would strike up an affinity with the Stanley area. The following summer he played three gigs in the vicinity.”

In the August of 1865 he performed at the third annual soiree in support of the Miners’ Permanent Relief Fund which took place in a field near Burnopfield Colliery.

More than 600 people rammed the marquee and Wilson apparently went down a storm.

But a highly significant performance took place a month earlier when Wilson played the annual Annfield Plain soiree to raise money for reading rooms.

One of the attendees in the marquee was 15-year-old Tommy Armstrong, who suffered from rickets, walked with sticks, and worked at Tanfield pit as a trapper.

The young Armstrong was so besotted with Joe Wilson that took up the pen and later found renown as The Pitman Poet.

Mr Waugh added: “Joe’s is a fascinating story and he was every bit as important to the North-East as Rabbie Burns was to Scotland.”

The Great Joe Wilson comes to The Alun Armstrong Theatre, Stanley, on Thursday, September 13.

Tickets cost £16 and can be booked by calling 01207-299-110.