The setting for this play is the Chartist rebellion of 1839. William David and Dr. William Price of Llantrisant are the leaders of the Chartists in the Rhondda. Faced with his growing despair of Walter Coffin, the owner of the Dinas Collieries, David makes a decision that is to have unforeseen consequences as the threat of revolution is whispered throughout Great Britain. I have included the opening scene.

A cold light. William David, late twenties, enters stage right, walking stiffly. He takes the bloodied bandage off his hand and winces as he touches the wound. Anxious, his face in a continuous frown, David kneels down, putting his hand into the imaginary pool of water. Walter Coffin, late forties, tall, powerful, enters stage right, leaning on his walking stick. David senses his presence and wraps the bandage around his hand quickly as he stands up. His face tightens, mouth hardening, as he forces himself to remain composed.

David:    Walter? I thought I saw you following me along path. You should have slipped and broke your damned neck.

Coffin:   You seem so fragile, William.  What did you expect me to do? I was at the colliery and saw you hurrying up here. The men speak in whispers of what you did today. You seem to favour dissent and radicalism.

 David:     Why ever would they be doing that? I am just an ordinary fellow who should have kept well away.

Coffin:   You only fool yourself. I see how the men are galvanised by your presence. (Points his cane at David's hand). You should have the wound cleansed by Davies.

David:  This will have to suffice until I get home. The wounds are superficial and will quickly heal.

Coffin:   I have yet to meet a man who does not suffer fear and pain, William.

David:    What would you know of that? You came here because of your curiosity. You know I never hold my tongue when I see conditions like these today.

Coffin:     Your blood is no different to any other man.

David:    We are all flesh and blood that decays quicker for some than for others. Will you reach your three score years and ten? Do I sense your demeanour faltering? To be forgotten is what irks you, Walter. Death is the sleep that you will long for when your body is ravaged with disease. This Eden you have created at Dinas means little because the folly will be forgotten when the seams are exhausted.

Coffin:   The greatest good is always rewarded in this life or the next. There are many people in the chapel graveyards who would swap places with you or me.

David:     They would be welcome to this damnation. Fear can lead men onto a different path. Natural order will mean nothing when they are punished like your colliers are.

Coffin:    Does your brusqueness make you an edifying communicator to the people?

 David:   I speak as I find. I learn every day because I know no more than the next man.  I understand people by hearing their worries and offering help where I can. Any man, woman, child, can speak to me. We all learn from that experience and become better for it. No one should be alone and afraid to speak with a friend.

 Coffin:   Your sophistry is unbecoming a man of your intellect.

 David:    I taught myself about theology. The people I preach to will come to decisions of their own understanding without any help from me. I went to the colliery to find out how harsh it would be  and for me to feel every bone in my body ache. Then I would go home, restless, never sleeping, as I leave the stygian gloom and the night of sleep that will protect me. Christ never trained for the ministry and I follow his lead!

Coffin:   What is it with you people that you must always seem so earnest?   

 David:   I wanted to know what these men and boys were suffering without having you tell me. They toiled like the men of old did to earn the pittance that will feed their families. Christian charity is anathema to you, Walter.

Coffin:     The men work because they have to eat. I finished the collier whose place you took. You deceived him and yourself. I will not tolerate incidents like this. You have been causing unrest for months in Dinas. You and that other fool William Price.

David:   There was no reason to finish him. How is he going to support himself and his family?

Coffin:    He should have thought of that before you exchanged places.

David:   The workhouse is where he and family will reside. If I had any money I would give it to these wretches so they may eat and smell fresh air every morning. What is it with money that makes a man more avaricious? When the railway comes to Dinas you'll expand, have more collieries sunk, and Coffin's celebrated coal will be sent to more markets around the world.

Coffin:    Progress cannot be halted.