We’re
Not Going Back
NATIONAL TOUR: 9 JULY 2014 – OCTOBER 2014
Written by Boff Whalley
Directed by Rod Dixon
New musical sees the miners’ strike
through the eyes of three sisters.
Red
Ladder Theatre Company opens a 2014 UK tour at the Durham Miners’ Gala (Miners
Hall, Red Hill, Durham) on Wednesday 9 July, with a new musical comedy We’re
Not Going Back, looking at the 1984/85 miners' strike through the eyes of three
headstrong sisters in a South Yorkshire pit village.
Written
by ex-Chumbawamba guitarist and writer Boff Whalley, and directed by Red
Ladder’s Artistic Director Rod Dixon, We’re Not Going Back is a musical
commissioned by the North East, Yorkshire and Humberside regions of Unite the
Union, and is performed by Victoria Brazier, Claire Marie Seddon and Stacey
Sampson.
We’re
Not Going Back is about the 1984/85 miners’ strike. More or less. But in this hard-hitting musical comedy there are no
miners. Instead, we follow the fortunes of three sisters –Olive, Mary and
Isabel – hit hard by the Government’s war against the miners and determined to
set up a branch of Women Against Pit Closures.
It’s
February1984, and as the rumour mill stirs with developments of impending pit
closures, the coal miners’ unions are drawn into a battle of attrition against
an unbending government. Forced into poverty, miners and their families become
part of a strike that will resonate through the coming decades.
But
for many people, the war fought between politicians, police and pickets took a
back seat to the fight to hold together families, friendships and community –
fought on the battleground of living room and soup kitchen, meeting hall and
social club. It was a battle fought with laughter and songs, with knees-ups,
punch-ups and piss-ups.
With
music, comedy and grit, the three sisters embrace the values of the ’84 strike
and underline the empowerment; determination and vulnerability those
communities were faced with in this war.
Writer Boff Whalley comments:
"30 years ago I
was part of a miners' strike support group in Leeds. It was a
strange time - there was a real sense of 'taking stock' of what my politics
were. For me, the strongest part - the heart - of the miners' strike was the family
support, specifically the women. Despite the
strike's outcome, all the hardship and poverty, the main memory of that year
for the women was of laughter, fun and surprise - a big adventure. How to take
on the machinery of the capitalist state; and have a good time doing it. I knew
this feeling had to be the underlying belly of the play."
Boff
Whalley was a founder member of Chumbawamba. His past theatre writing credits
for Red Ladder include Riot, Rebellion &
Bloody Insurrection, Sex & Docks
& Rock n Roll, and Big Society
(starring ‘Never Mind the Buzzcocks’ panellist Phill Jupitus).
Rod
Dixon became
Artistic Director of Red Ladder in 2006. His past theatre director credits for
Red Ladder include Where’s Vietnam?, Forgotten
Things, Riot, Rebellion & Bloody Insurrection, UGLY, Sex & Docks & Rock n Roll , Big Society, and Playing The Joker.
Victoria
Brazier trained at the Birmingham School of Speech and Drama. Theatre credits
include: The Borrowers with West
Yorkshire Playhouse, Hobsons Choice
with The Royal Exchange and A Great War
with JB Shorts. Television credits include:
Boy A with Channel 4, Land Girls
with BBC One and Doctors with BBC Television.
Claire-Marie
Seddon trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in musical theatre and
has extensive training in performing arts and musical theatre in various
institutions in the UK. Theatre
credits include: 162 Bars Out with
The National Theatre of Scotland, The Key
To A Quiet Life with Dead Earnest and War
Of The Worlds along with various others at The Royal Conservatoire of
Scotland. Television credits include Children
In Need and Tonight’s The Night With John Barrowman with BBC Television.
Stacey
Sampson’s television credits include: This
Is England ’88 with Warp Films and Channel 4, The Syndicate and Waking The Dead with BBC Television.
Sampson’s theatre credits include: The
History Boys with Sheffield Crucible, Watermark
at Belfast Waterfront Hall and a national tour of The Borrowers.
Red
Ladder champions new writing, particularly that which challenges or agitates.
It is a radical theatre company with 45 years of history; acknowledged as one
of Britain’s leading
national touring companies producing high quality theatre contributing to social
change and global justice.
Actor Stacey Sampson is writing a blog about being the main ‘bread winner’ in her home following returning
to work after having a baby – as well as writing about the rehearsal process. http://winningthebread.wordpress.com
Photos: Tim Smith
Tour dates:
Wed 9 – Fri 11 July
Durham Gala - Miners Hall, Red Hill, Durham
03000 266600
Thurs 11 – Fri 12 September
Duncairn Cultural Arts Centre
028 9074 7114
Mon 15 September
Fruit, Hull
01482 221113
Thurs 18 – Sat 20 September
The Civic, Barnsley
01226 327 000
Sun 21 September
Hebden Bridge Trades Club
01422 845 265
Mon 22 – Tues 23 September
Oldham Coliseum
0161 624 2829
Wed 24 – Thurs 25 September
CAST, Doncaster
01302 303 959
Fri 26 September
Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield
01484 430528
Thurs 2 October
The Welfare, Swansea
01639 843163
Fri 3 October
Cwmaman Theatre, Aberdare
01685 887100
Sat 4 October
The Savoy Theatre, Tonyrefall
01443 670250
Mon 6 – Tues 7 October
Congress Theatre, Cwmbran
01633 868 239
Wed 8 October
The Royalty, Sunderland
0191 567 2669
Thurs 9 October
Arts Centre Washington
0191 219 3455
Fri 10 October
The Witham, Barnard Castle
01833 631 107
Sat 11 October
Queens Hall Arts Centre, Hexham
01343 652 477
Wed 15 October
Regal Theatre, Bathgate
01506 632 558
Fri 17 October
Seaton Delaval (venue TBC)
Sat 18 October
Hemsworth Miner’s Welfare
