13 Nov 2025
Performances will support Project Twekembe businesses
A play recounting the 1880 Seaham Colliery disaster will return to the stage next week, eleven years after it first touched hearts and minds in the north east and far beyond.
The Bitter Taste of Coal tells the harrowing story of Wednesday 8 September 1880 when 164 men and boys died following an underground explosion at Seaham Colliery in the north east of England.
The play is written by former miner and mine rescue officer, Steve English, with music by Mick Smith. It will be performed by Vane Tempest Theatre Group, which carries the name of the last colliery to close in Seaham in 1993.
Performances will run from Tuesday 18 November to Friday 21 November at Seaham Town Hall - in support of CACDI entrepreneurs. When the show was first put on in 2014, it was a sellout.
Steve English says: “It was suggested some time ago that the play should be put on again. They were so many people asking to see it who couldn’t get tickets to see it the first-time round because it was sold out every night, and it’s just taken eleven years to get around to it.”
He adds: “There were a lot of people who had family members who were affected, directly or indirectly by the disaster, some forbearers who were actually killed in the explosion, and people came from far and wide to see the play. It was recorded and DVDs of the play were sent all over the world, as far as New Zealand and Canada.”
Steve points out: “A lot of the libretto was my imagination. No one knows what conversations took place, but you have to use the historical records of messages that were left on a tin bottle or a piece of timber. You use those and weave those into the storyline and think ‘well, how would I have felt in that position?’”
The explosion, thought to have been caused by the firing of a shot (the use of explosives to break up coal), was heard as far away as the outskirts of Sunderland. Thirteen lives were reportedly lost from one street alone - Seaham Street.
The tragedy received national news coverage and an estimated 40,000 people gathered on the Sunday following the explosion to witness the first mass funerals. Today, a memorial to the 1880 disaster stands in the grounds of Christ Church, Seaham.
The Seaham-based Vane Tempest Theatre Group has nominated The Road to Parity as its charity to support in 2025. Charity founder, Jonathan Hill, who is based in Durham, says: “To be supported by the theatre group this year is a wonderful gesture, but for that support to include a performance with such local and historical significance is extra special. We are so grateful to everyone involved, and I really look forward to seeing the show.”