THIS is a gritty tale of love, betrayal and reconciliation in the north of England at the turn of the 20th century in a rural Cumbria soaked with rain with the help of composer Howard Goodall’s wonderful music.

A multi-talented cast is now serving up a rare treat for local theatre goers in a production which would not be out of place in London’s West End where the first performance of novelist and broadcaster Melvyn Bragg’s story was initially staged with limited commercial success in the early 1980s.

For me, there is far more substance, relevance and interest – particularly if you’re a northerner - in this offering than any Andrew Lloyd Webber musical I’ve seen, and that’s no exaggeration.

The Hired Man has come to the Coliseum via the Queen’s Theatre in Hornchurch, Essex and the Hull Truck Theatre and the slick performance polish and choreography clearly garnered in these earlier venues is something to behold. In short it’s a riveting watch from start to finish.

And the diversity of skill among the 11 actor/musicians is awesome. They must have set the bar very high when they were auditioning performers for this production.

Lauryn Redding, already a Coliseum favourite thanks to previous performances there, plays Emily, essentially at the centre of a love triangle between husband John (Oliver Hembrough) and Jackson (Lloyd Gorman).

Hembrough’s singing voice is superb as is both Redding’s and Gorman, but it was also the quality of their acting to put across the raw emotion in the piece which impressed me in equal measure.

The ability of the cast to interchange instruments themselves to provide a constant soundtrack to the story was truly amazing.

The show’s musical director Bernard Goddard and Tom Self, whose excellent piano playing accompanied much of the story, deserve whatever plaudits come their way, along with a company who collectively delivered an outstand performance.

Between them, they played guitars, trumpet, cello, violins, viola, double bass, accordion, clarinet, oboe, flute and clarinet, transitioning seamlessly from musician to acting throughout the piece.

I loved the set, with a highly effective revolving plinth which made the show a continual visual spectacle. Director Douglas Rintoul and movement director Jane Gibson have also done an outstanding job in helping to make this one of the best productions to be seen at the Coliseum for many a year.

When it was first launched back in the 1980s, The Hired Man deliberately avoided the high concepts, lavish sets and big solo numbers of the Lloyd Webber world.

Back then, it was he who produced the show’s West End run. After he pulled out as producer, and despire efforts by Bragg to save it with his own money, the show closed after 164 performances at the Astoria. A few days later, it won a prestigious Novello Award for the year’s Best Musical.

If there’s any justice, this production should win an award. It’s that good. And like Lauryn Redding said when The Oldham Times interviewed her before the show arrived in town, it’s perfect for an Oldham audience.