The Accrington Pals (play)

The Accrington Pals by Peter Whelan is a moving and hard-hitting 1982 play set in Accrington during the first few years of the First World War.

While the story itself is fiction, the background is reality. The Pals were formed and fought just as they are described as doing in the play. It looks at the story of the innocent and enthusiastic men who volunteered their services to their country after Kitchener's calls for a New Army. Their experiences of life on the Western Front are contrasted with the women who are left behind in Accrington, women who come together as friends when facing sexual deprivation, as well as being thrown into the social changes that came along with the absence of many men. The main characters, too, are contrasted; May, as independent, hard-working, fruit and veg stall holder, Tom, her lodger, as optimistic and idealistic and Eva, May's trusted and generous confidante and sweetheart of Ralph. The play has fun and light-hearted moments, which are starkly contrasted with the terrifying reality hundreds of men faced at the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

The play was first published by Methuan London Ltd in 1982, but was first presented on 10th April 1981 by the Royal Shakespeare Company. The cast, playing at the Warehouse, London, was:

* Janet Dale (May)
* Nicholas Gecks (Tom)
* Peter Chelsom (Ralph)
* Trudie Styler (Eva)
* Sharon Bower (Sarah)
* Hilary Townley (Bertha)
* Brenda Fricker (Annie)
* Andrew Jarvis (Arthur)
* Vincent Hall (Reggie)
* Bob Peck (C.S.M. Rivers)
* Bill Alexander (Director)
* Kit Surrey (Design)
* Michael Calf (Lighting)
* John A. Leonard (Sound)
* Peter Washtell (Music arrangement)

Since the original production, it has been performed many times by amateur theatre groups.