Chiflon: Silence of Coal

It was in this pretty unremarkable town in the middle of the Atacama desert on an August day that a century old copper mine collapsed.

As the days went on, rescuers were made aware of 33 workers trapped 700 metres below the surface.

Following a widespread rescue mission, “los 33” were reached.

More than a month after the initial collapse, every single one of them were pulled to safety in a miraculous event which was watched by more than one billion people on the globe.

While the rest of the world have moved on, for those living in the narrow and tight-knit South American country the Copiapó mining accident re-opened their eyes to the tradition of extracting materials from the ground.

It’s this that forms the backdrop to The Silence of Coal from the Chilean-based puppet performance company Chiflon.

There is no talking or soundtrack; it features just five people holding a number of very plain white puppets with very few props and even fewer lights.

It’s only through the movements of these pure human shaped aides that the mysteries of the subterranean world are revealed.

As a member of this cast of five, Consuelo Miranda helps take the audience to these great new depths.

She explains: “We are trying to have an experience with the audience about being under the earth.

“Everything is in silence so the audience have to pay attention to everything that happens. It's important to look at puppets as they move like humans, that's their sole focus.”

Chiflon used as inspiration a collection of stories called Sub Terra by the distinguished Chilean author Baldomero Lillo.

Combined with research by speaking to those in mining communities, the result is a story which the group claims confronts the black silence of Chile’s mining history.

The surprise is that events are not set in 2010, but more than 100 years before in the 19th Century.

Consuelo said: “The reality is that what happened in 2010 has always happened in Chile.

“It's important to us that we show the job of being a miner. We try to tell the story from another point of view.

“This is more like about a family. We show the fragility of the women in the wake of these miners going to work and the conditions that they have survive in.”

Each one of the cast of five operates a single puppet within the show.

Made from journal paper by the company’s director, they have no eyes or ears; they are just simple white creatures.

The only noise is a background ambience made by the actors controlling them.

It’s because of this purity that Consuelo believes the story will travel across borders.

She said: “What makes this universal first of all is the language that we use. It’s all gestures which means that it’s something that everyone can understand where ever you are.

“I also think the subject is universal. This is a job that you don’t have to study for it, it's more traditional and is something which happens all over the world.

“Here in Chile there are still a lot of miners who do it every single day. People don't want to leave it, they want to work and work and work, it's their job for them. They are going to do it for as long as they live.”

The performance at Brighton Festival will be the UK premiere of the work.

The hope is to then combine it with similar performances in London, Portugal and Denmark.

Consuelo said: “When we received the invitation [from Brighton], the first thing we did was search for what it was all about.

“It's such a huge festival, we had no idea at all but it is so exciting just to be there and we can't wait.”

She adds: “For us this is to show the world that this is our story or was our reality in 19th century.

“This is our tradition that we want to show to Brighton people.

“We are so excited to just be invited and we are working hard to make sure we have beautiful and gorgeous presentation for everyone to come and see.

“I just hope everyone loves our work as much as we love doing it. It's hard work but it's so worth it.”

Chiflon: Silence of Coal

Brighton Dome Studio Theatre, New Road

Thu, May 12, and Fri, May 13, 7.30pm, Sat, May 14, 5pm and 8.30pm, £12.50.