GOING UNDERGROUND: Performers dug deep in preparation for their latest roles.

Actors and actresses from the New Vic Theatre paid a visit to the Apedale Heritage Centre, Chesterton, to get into character for a play about a Midlands mining community.

The New Vic Theatre, Basford, will stage a production of DH Lawrence's

The Daughter-in-Law

later this month.

The play focuses on marriage and life in the mining community during the 1912 coal-miners' strike.

And actress Anita Carey, pictured, said the visit to Apedale, the site of North Staffordshire's only remaining open pit, had helped them get a feel for their parts.

She said: "I come from West Riding in Yorkshire and my great-grandfather was a coal-miner, so I feel very close to the characters in the play.

"This visit gave me a chance to feel close to my ancestor and get a taste of what things might have been like for him."

The Daughter-in-Law runs from Friday, September 25 to Saturday, October 10. Tickets are available on 01782 717962.

Picture: Cara Edgington