Play digs deep into the loss of coal mining community
Aplay which marks the closure of one of the UK’s last remaining deep seam mines and commemorates mining communities is being performed in Sunderland this week. The Last Seam, which explores the closure of the Hatfield Main pit in June 2015, will have a particular resonance in the city and is one of the highlights of Sunderland Stages’ Autumn 2018 season.
This powerful production written by Garry Lyons echoes the stories behind the UK’s mining heritage and aims to help to ensure the voices of our former miners and our mining communities are not forgotten.
Garry, an established playwright and lecturer in the University of Leeds’ School of Performance and Cultural Industries, based his drama on stories he collected over a five-month period from ex-miners, their families and the local community around Hatfield Main.
The play covers the period from the Miners’ Strike of 1984-85 through to the shutting of the mine and the Brexit referendum.
“Gary explained: The idea for a play developed from me following the news about the Hatfield Main closure, literally with two hours’ notice.
“Cast, a theatre in Doncaster, had recently opened and was looking for new writing and I approached them and said that the closure after such a long history of mining in the area was worth exploring as a play.
“They agreed and the project took off from there. I’m from London and although I’ve lived in Yorkshire for many years I had no particular connection to mining so went into the research with no preconceived ideas of what stories and themes might emerge.”
The play examines the effects the closure of Hatfield Main had on two local villages and their inhabitants. Its five main characters are amalgamations of people Garry met during his months of research.
He said: “I wanted to keep the accents and tone of what they said and how they said it so some of the dialogue is direct transcripts of real conversations.”
The Last Seam will be performed at The Peacock tonight and tomorrow. Tickets cost £9, £7.50 for concessions from www.sunderlandstages.com