A play telling the emotional story of a mining emergency is to be staged in a disused County Durham lead mine.

Trapped – based on the true story of a 2010 mine collapse in Chile – will be performed at Killhope Museum’s Park Level Mine.

The collapse, in the San Jose gold and copper mine, led to 33 miners being trapped underground for 69 days. The men were trapped 700 metres below ground and five kilometres from the mine’s entrance.

Incredibly, all the miners survived and were eventually winched to safety after Chile’s state-owned mining company Codelco took over rescue efforts from the mine’s private owners.

Trapped 3
Trapped will use live music and lighting to bring the miners’ ordeal to life

Trapped will bring the miners’ ordeal to life with physical theatre, live music and clever tricks of lighting.

Killhope Museum’s operations officer, Maria McArdle, said, “We are really looking forward to hosting what promises to be an unusual and spellbinding piece of theatre.”

“We have held performances in the mine before but nothing quite like this.”

“The very nature of the performance, with a small cast in a small space, means that audience members will feel as if they are part of the event rather than outsiders looking on.”

“And the fact that County Durham has its own rich mining heritage adds another layer, with many of the theses set to resonate with the local audience.”

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Incredibly, all of the trapped miners survived

Trapped will be put on by physical theatre and film company Experimental. The live music will be performed by singer-songwriter Hayley Youell.

Some performances have already sold out. However, at the time of writing, tickets were available for the following shows:

  • Thursday 28th and Friday 29th June – 1.00 pm, 6.15 pm and 7.15 pm
  • Saturday 30th June – 1.00 pm, 3.00 pm and 6.00 pm

Tickets cost £15.00 for adults and £12.00 for children/concessions. To book tickets, please telephone 01388 537 505.

For more information, please go to www.killhope.org.uk/events/trapped.


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DavidSunderland
David writes about local news, thought provoking stories, and yearns to capture the community spirit with a unique writing style.

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