Nowt Like This in America

Boro playwright Alan Spence is very proud to offer this 2025 reprint on his own book label Theatre is real life, which tells the untold history of the 1980 Steel strike, some forty 45 years after it took place. It is the story of a family, a community and an industry.

The play is set in Eston and at the Redcar BSC Complex and like Alan's first play, uses slides to offer both a local and national perspective. The Steel strike lasted 13 weeks, the largest strike in post-war history with the loss of 8.8 million working days. It was the first national stoppage in British steel industry since the General Strike in 1926,

The new book is in three parts; Part 1: includes Dont put your kids on the stage...Mrs Worthington, a background of Alan's early attempts at performance and his journey into teaching, as well as asking a key question - Does theatre actually change anything? Where Alan explores key issues and themes on many well plays he has seen. Part 2: the full script of the play, with Part 3: production notes and examination questions related to the play for GCSE, A Level and Performing Arts.