When the Westray mine exploded, the human tragedy and suffering that resulted were chilling proof that the age-old price paid for coal is human blood. After the dead were laid to rest, the bureaucratic back-stabbing and corporate refusal of responsibility were all too familiar to followers of the history of mining and labour.

Andrew and Pam have a young son, and they have just purchased their first home. Even though conditions at Westray are nearly subhuman, and the mine is known to be dangerously mismanaged, Andy, alongside his co-workers, must descend under the ground again and again because the livelihood of his loved ones rests on his shoulders.

Cast of 2 women and 3 men.

Chris O’Neill is currently the executive director of the Ross Creek Centre for the Arts, a multidisciplinary arts creation and education facility in Nova Scotia. She continues her active involvement in the theatre, both as a playwright and as an actress, by touring across Canada and Ireland as an apprentice with various theatres, most often with Two Planks and a Passion Theatre since 1992. She lives in rural Nova Scotia with her husband, three children and their menagerie of animals.

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Ken Schwartz is the co-author, with Chris O’Neill, of The Butterbox Babies, Westray: The Long Way Home and Cypher. A graduate from both the technical production and directing programmes at the National Theatre School of Canada, Schwartz is Co-Artistic Director of Two Planks and a Passion Theatre in Canning, Nova Scotia, and is an executive on the Board of Directors of Theatre Nova Scotia.

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