About the Play:

The Dunsmuirs: A Promise Kept is a full-length drama by Rod Langley. The play chronicles the passion, power, greed and fury you'd expect from the rags-to-riches rise of Robert and Joan Dunsmuir, who settled in Nanaimo in 1853. Dunsmuir was a mine worker who eventually became a coal baron. A dark family secret emerges in this second play about the wealthy and ill-fated Dunsmuir family.

The Dunsmuirs: A Promise Kept is about the Scottish immigrant and industrial magnate Robert Dunsmuir who, with his discovery of coal, virtually founded Nanaimo's corner of the world. This saga of ruination has to do with the second son, Alex, who was sent by his mother to run the family operations in San Francisco and "the Dunsmuir curse" that followed him. While Robbie and Joan's two sons, Alex and Robert, heirs apparent to the family fortune are groomed to hold the reins of power, Robbie Dunsmuir cuts a deal with Sir John A. Macdonald to build a railway from Victoria to Nanaimo, to distract B.C. voters from the fact that the promise of a transcontinental railway which brought them into confederation has been delayed. The last spike of the E & N is driven, and Robbie and Sir John descend to the lowest level of the Dunsmuir pits where they consummate their deal in a two day orgy of bonded whiskey, cold chicken, and much quoting of the bard (Robbie Burns, that is). In a devastating final scene, the family secret emerges from the closet of the Dunsmuirs' castle, Craigdarroch, on the eve of its inauguration. The scene is set for the furies to deliver the family up to the curse Robbie and Joan brought with them from their native Scotland. The Dunsmuirs: A Promise Kept is the second play chronicling the saga of one of Canada's wealthiest, most ruthless, and ill fated families.

The Dunsmuirs: Alone at the Edge premiered in 1988 at the Chemainus Theatre Festival in the seaside community of Chemainus, BC. A version of both plays in The Dunsmuirs series has been performed annually at the Nanaimo Festival for several years.

Cast: 3 female, 6 male

What people say:

"The writing is tight and lively." — Victoria Times-Colonist

About the Playwright:

Rod Langley is a Canadian is a playwright and director. He was born in Australia, moved to Canada in his teens, and has lived in Nanaimo, BC for many years. His published work includes two plays about the Dunsmuir family coal barons and a play about Norman Bethune. He has also produced a number of documentary films on the history of Nanaimo.