18 | FOREVER Keele
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
Keele research informs production of new play about the real Great Escape
Findings from a Keele University study into the real life “ Great Escape ” have helped bring the story to life in a new play at the New Vic Theatre .
The study , first published in 2007 by Keele ’ s Dr Jamie Pringle and colleagues from London and the USA , was a geoscientific investigation of the ground at a former Prisoner of War ( POW ) camp in Poland , previously used by the Nazis to hold Allied POWs .
Now , the story has been adapted for the stage at the New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-under- Lyme , with Dr Pringle and his co-authors ’ research findings being used in the writing and development of the story .
Like many such camps , the Stalag Luft III camp was notorious for escape attempts by Allied prisoners , most famously the mass escape of 76 POWs in March 1944 , which formed the inspiration for the film “ The Great Escape ”.
READ MORE ONLINE