Red Ladder Theatre Company and Unite the Union presents…

We’re Not Going Back
Written by Boff Whalley

75 Mines. 3 Sisters. 1 Cause. (And a six pack of Babycham)

2024 is the fortieth anniversary of the 1984/85 miners’ strike, a dispute that still resonates today. But the strike wasn’t just about pickets vs police – in this hard-hitting musical comedy there are no miners and no cops. Instead, we follow the fortunes of three sisters in a pit village, hit hard by the Government’s war against the miners and determined to set up a branch of ‘Women Against Pit Closures’.

Early 1984, and Olive, Mary and Isabel are sisters whose everyday squabbles collide with a strike that forces them to question their lives, their relationships and their family ties.

This strike wasn’t just a war fought on the battlegrounds of picket line, Parliament and public opinion. It was as much a battle in the homes and families of those fighting for their communities.

We’re Not Going Back tackles the resilience of working communities, the make-and-mend fabric of family and the power of sticking two fingers up to a government hell-bent on destruction… and all with humour, song and a six pack of Babycham.