Details

The Bethnal Green Tube shelter disaster took place on the evening of Wednesday March 3rd, 1943. One hundred and seventy three people died in a terrifying crush as crowds of people tried to enter the station's bomb shelter; sixty-two of the dead were children. However, no bomb struck and not a single casualty was the direct result of military aggression, making it the deadliest civilian incident of World War 2. At 8.27pm the touch-paper was lit. A frightening roar went out as a nearby anti-aircraft battery fired a salvo of a new type of anti-aircraft rockets. The weapon was secret, with an unfamiliar sound. Apprehension turned to panic. As the crowd surged forward down the slippery steps a woman fell near the bottom of the first staircase. A man tripped over her, and a tragic human domino effect had begun... The play features sections of verbatim accounts taken from interviews with survivors of the tragedy.

Creatives/Company

Author: Bernie C Byrnes
Company: Kipper Tie Theatre