A reading of this play (details below) will be performed at the Welfare Club & Social Institute, Cowdray Square, Deal, CT14 9EU. Thursday 28th July 2011 at 7.30pm.
Open to members and non-members, all welcome.
Edinburgh Festival 2011 - "DUST"
At the New Town Theatre in Edinburgh's George Street, the repercussions of an event that many expect but none can predict are playing out.
It is the day of Margaret Thatcher's death. In his flat in London's Barbican, miners' leader Arthur Scargill reacts to the news that his old adversary has gone.
As they reflect on battles past, Scargill and his publisher have a visitor - an ageing militant miner with his own take on Scargill's controversial legacy. In a Britain partly shaped by their actions, fierce old fighters slug it out over the dust of history. Meanwhile, in Doncaster, a pregnant young woman stares at recession-hit Britain. The catalyst of Margaret Thatcher's death triggers a series of events and reflections that go right back to the 1920s, the General Strike and another Arthur - miners' union leader Arthur Cook. Meanwhile in Yorkshire, a young couple face unemployment - even today, the threat has not subsided.
From the award-winning Quidem team of broadcast producer Ralph Bernard and acclaimed writer/director Ade Morris comes this passionate, humorous, tragic snapshot of 2011. 'DUST' has been 30 years in gestation - Ralph Bernard researched the coal industry and interviewed Arthur Scargill for a series of radio documentaries in the early 1980s, and the idea of a stage play about Scargill's place in history has been fermenting ever since. Ralph moved from production into radio management, culminating in the position of Chief Executive of the UK's largest commercial radio company. He remains chairman of Classic FM, and of the British Lung Foundation - a role he took on after learning of the dire health consequences of the mining industry.
He also served as Chief Executive of the Royal Albert Hall, and has now established Quidem as a focus for creative work, owning 6 radio stations in the Midlands. 'DUST' is the company's first stage play.