SHE’S Fired, a folk opera about the Seaham pit explosion of 1880 which killed 164 miners and boys below ground, is to be staged at Sage Gateshead in March.

Written by poet and former miner Bob Lowery with songs by local folk singer and band frontman, John Wrightson, it was staged for the first time in September 2012 as a one-off performance during Sedgefield Folk Festival.

Such was the acclaim that more performances have followed at venues including Darlington, Richmond, Bishop Auckland and Seaham, often before capacity audiences, the most recent being at the Alun Armstrong Theatre in Stanley this month.

The largest platform, however, will be Hall Two at The Sage, where the play will be performed by a cast including Lowery, Wrightson and other local folk singers and musicians, on March 14 (8pm).

The action is set at the pit face where nine men and six boys, the youngest aged ten, are waiting to be rescued.

Explosions were a major danger in the 19th century mining industry and the cause of many pit disasters.

At Seaham, one of the worst, 164 miners died, many immediately in the explosion, others from being trapped as fire raged through the tunnels worsened by a decision from the top to seal up a mineshaft.

The disaster devastated the pit village and left 107 widows and 259 children without the family breadwinner. More than 180 pit ponies were also killed.

Wrightson, who worked for many years as a colliery electrician, is a well known singer/songwriter in the North East folk music scene.

Other performers include George Armstrong, member of Loose Connection and chairman of Darlington Folk Club, and Bob Tuddenham, ex-vice-principal of Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College and also a member of Loose Connection.

The 12 songs in the play are by Wrightson. The best known is Diary of a Northumberland Miner, which has been recorded by Vin Garbutt, Marie Little and others. Here We Go Boys has been taken up by John Tams.