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February 2024
Charlie, ‘Honorary Member’ of Women Against Pit Closures
In the mid 80s, whilst the miners’ strike was the focal point of my community, I was doing a degree in Behavioural Science as a (im)mature student at Huddersfield Poly. In my final year I had to choose a subject for my 10,000 word dissertation and so, coming from Barnsley, I chose to write about […]
A timeline of the 1984/85 miners’ strike by Yorkshire Bylines’ John Heywood
The 1984-1985 miners’ strike marked one of Britain’s most bitter industrial conflicts. It erupted after the National Coal Board, under the government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, announced plans to slash national coal production and shut down twenty mines, costing 20,000 jobs. Towns and villages across the United Kingdom, heavily reliant on these mines for […]
Director Elvi Piper’s inspiration & hopes for Red Ladder favourite ‘We’re Not Going Back’
The first piece of theatre I saw when I moved to Leeds 10 years ago, on maybe my second or third night in the city, was Red Ladder’s ‘Playing the Joker’ at Leeds Playhouse. The little front of house area curtained off into a pop-up venue was heaving, and the audience laughed and commented and […]
We’re Not Going Back by Boff Whalley
People love anniversaries. Royal Jubilees, Cup victories, Elton John’s birthday. We’re Not Going Back was written ten years ago, to commemorate the miners’ strike on its 30th anniversary, because some anniversaries (unlike the above) are worth remembering. For anyone too young to remember it, that year was pivotal. It spelled out the class divide, the […]
Our new Artistic Director, Cheryl Martin on her family’s shared history of mining and activism
I’m less than a month into my post as Artistic Director of Red Ladder and yet working alongside a small team who achieve the seemingly impossible each week, and the excitement of bringing back a show which is already proving a huge draw to audiences, is powering me through the days. ‘We’re Not Going Back’ […]
