we're not going back

75 Mines. 3 Sisters. 1 Cause.

(And a six-pack of Babycham.)

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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’.

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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.

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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.

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Written by Boff Whalley, this play opened to rave reviews in The Observer and The Guardian.