RED Ladder Theatre Company has a new musical comedy, a world premiere – no less, which looks at the miner’s strike of 1984/85, except there are no miners in this production, just three head-strong sisters, Olive, Mary and Isabel.

We're Not Going Out is a show comissioned by the North East, Yorkshire and Humberside regions of Unite the Union, and is performed by Victoria Brazier, Claire Marie Seddon and Stacey Sampson.

The majority recall the front line pit strikers on television and witnessed the impending doom of pit closures with the coal miners’ unions drawn into a battle of attrition against Margaret Thatcher’s unbending government. What few saw was the wives and families struggling against poverty to keep their families together.

For many people, the war fought between politicians, police and pickets took a back seat. Forced into poverty, miners and their families 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 knee-ups, punch-ups and the odd pint or two.

Written for the Leeds-based company 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 that embraces the values of the 1984 strike, looking at it from a totally different standpoint.

"Thirty 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," says Boff Whalley.

  • October 8 –The Royalty, Sunderland (Box Office: 0191-567-2669)
  • October 9 –Arts Centre Washington (0191-219-3455)
  • October 10 -The Witham, Barnard Castle (0183-363-1107)