Lead and silver, a play by North Pennines Playwrights

23 October 2024

Blog by Jamie Tucknutt, North Pennines Playwrights

Inspired by the North Pennines National Landscape’s project, Land of Lead and Silver, a new writing group has been formed.  For the past year, North Pennines Playwrights has been collaboratively writing a stage-play about the lead mining heritage of the North Pennines,  supported by North Pennines National Landscape and Northpens, a Weardale writing group.

The group was awarded a community grant by North Pennines National Landscape to develop the script and make it performance ready.  We are being mentored by dramaturg, Tamsin Rees, and hope the play will be performed in different parts of the North Pennines area, creating opportunities for creative activities and live performance throughout the Dales communities.

Lead and Silver synopsis

1849: in a village in Allendale, the lead miners are on strike. They’re already struggling to keep their heads above water and their families fed and warm, and now the mine owners want to impose changes that will cause further pain and hardship.

In the middle of this, geographically, socially and politically, are the Emerton family, lead miners to the core. But the industrial revolution means the world is changing, and changing fast. Tradition means less and less in this new era.

If the family can all hold tight and pull together, they may just make it.  Widowed mother, Mary Emerton, is determined to keep the family together and be ‘top dog’, but her nine children seem to be moving further and further away from her, plus her lead miner sons won’t tell her anything about what’s going on.  There may be a queen on the throne, but can a working-class woman take on the Victorian patriarchy and stop her family from falling apart?

Big decisions need to be made by all, decisions that will have far-reaching consequences for future generations and across the globe.

Think ‘A Hundred Years of Solitude’ crossed with ‘Neighbours’ set in the North Pennines, with rabbit stew – lots and lots of rabbit stew.

‘Lead and Silver‘ will be launched at the 2024 Weardale Wordfest.  The writers will give a presentation about the project, explaining how they set about developing believable characters, writing scenes and structuring the play. Actors from local company, Drama in the Dale, will be performing rehearsed readings of extracts from the play. Why not come along to the free launch event on Sunday 27 October at 2.30pm to find out more?

If you would like to find out more, please follow North Pennines Playwrights on Facebook and Twitter, or email us.