Playwright Charles Hayter and Port Hope's Pat Lawson chat after his talk about his upcoming play, Eldorado Town: The Port Hope Play.

It’s about back in the day when radium was the rage. A time when an abandoned seed factory down by the water became a literal hot bed of activity. An era when workers and town officials alike, anxious to break free of the Depression, took eager steps toward prosperity.

Charles Hayter’s play, Eldorado Town: The Port Hope Play, looks at the beginnings of Port Hope’s most controversial industry and the significant part it played on the world stage during the Second World War. It will be performed at the 4th Line Theatre during the month of July.

First time playwright Hayter is a retired radiation oncologist who has written about radiation therapy in a 2005 book: An Element of Hope.
He has a history of interest in drama, having studied it at Queen’s and Calgary yniversities before becoming an oncologist. Hayter has also appeared on stage in several Canadian theatre performances.

Eldorado Town delves into the boom and bust effects of bringing pitchblende ore to Port Hope to be refined during a time when employment was sorely needed.

Two brothers — Charles and Gilbert Labine — prospecting near Great Bear Lake in the 1920s, on the lookout for silver, found pitchblende ore with its component parts of radium and uranium. At the time, radium was worth more than gold and diamonds -the wonder of the age, according to Hayter. It was used for its luminous qualities on watch dials as well as combined in products such as toothpaste, fertilizer, makeup and even food before its the strength of its effects were widely known. Uranium was a by-product, its use yet to be discovered, and so was carelessly cast aside.

The Labine brothers, needing a location near water and hearing about a disused factory in Port Hope right beside Lake Ontario, courted and were courted in return by the mayor and townspeople. During the 1930s the plant prospered, but a large factory in Belgium that had cornered the market in the production of radium didn’t take kindly to the new producer. The arrival of the second world war and competition hurt the continuing success of the Port Hope business.

The need for uranium — specifically, for the Manhattan Project that developed the first atomic bombs — reversed the fortunes of Eldorado.

Hayter talked a bit about the process of writing the play Monday evening at Furby House Books, in a small room overtop of the bookstore, a small audience packed within the confines of the room.

He has used historic characters for the most part but in the interests of drama he has modified some events and introduced fictional characters.

For example, the Labine brothers discover the pitchblende in the play when, in fact, it was only one who made the discovery.

On the other hand, a central character in this play is Dr. Marcel Pochon, a researcher who worked with Marie Curie in Paris who was enticed to live in Port Hope and lead the technical side of refining radium from pitchblende.

Hayter says re-arranging history slightly is necessary to condense, telescope and make clear certain central issues. Additionally, the historical record is not entirely obvious he said.

Hayter ends the play at the moment Eldorado becomes a Crown corporation.

He says that, from the beginning, he has been sensitive to controversy that surrounds Port Hope’s lakeside plant. His play, which includes songs on such topics as how to make radium, strives to present a balance. In the 1930s, radium was global rage and a way to get a good meal ticket for many small town workers. When uranium came along, little Port Hope suddenly found itself a source point for material resources of earth shattering significance. Radium “bombs” used for cancer treatment were in part developed at the plant for their medical efficacy which given the knowledge at the time was cutting edge.

It was only years later that the consequences became apparent.

Eldorado Town: The Port Hope Play, directed by Robert Winslow, runs from July 1 to July 24 at the 4th Line Theatre.