The Accrington Pals (play)

The Accrington Pals is a 1981 play by Peter Whelan. It is based on the Accrington Pals unit in the First World War and contrasts its life at the front and experiences in the 1916 Battle of the Somme with the women left behind in Accrington.

History

Production history

Whelan's inspiration for The Accrington Pals, he wrote, stemmed from his fascination with a "fuzzy snapshot of [his] mother taken in the First World War." It has been likened to the "documentary plays" of the 1960s.[1]

The play was premiered at the Warehouse in London on 10 April 1981 by the Royal Shakespeare Company.[2]

Among contemporaneous theater critics, Michael Billington noted the debut's "combination of theatricality and truth, likening it to the works of Harold Brighouse and Stanley Houghton; he would later call its 2013 revival "one of the best plays ever about the first world war.[3] John Barber was less enthusiastic, claiming the work was Whelan "not at his happiest."[4]

Premiere cast and crew

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

Other productions

In February 2013 James Dacre directed a revival at the Royal Exchange, Manchester with Emma Lowndes as May, Sarah Ridgeway as Eva, Robin Morrissey as Tom and Gerard Kearns as Ralph.[3] The production won a UK Theatre Award for best design.
In October 2017 Dumbarton People's Theatre performed the play.

Publication history

The play was first published by Methuen London Ltd in 1982.[5]

Scenes

Act 1

i) May's market stall
ii) Recruiting office
iii) May's stall
iv) May's kitchen
v) May's kitchen (doubling as Tom's watch post.)
vi) May's kitchen
vii) May's stall (doubling as Caernarvon)
viii) May's stall
ix) May's kitchen
x) May's stall

Act 2

i) May's kitchen/France
ii) May's kitchen/France
iii) May's kitchen
iv) The Somme front, France
v) Sarah's backyard
vi) May's kitchen
vii) May's stall
viii) May's stall

References

Kozok, H. (12 July 2007). The Theatre of War: The First World War in British and Irish Drama. Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 39. ISBN 9780230590649. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
Pennino, Anthony P. (7 August 2018). Staging the Past in the Age of Thatcher. Springer International Publishing. p. 43. ISBN 9783319966861. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
Billington, Michael (22 January 2013). "The Accrington Pals – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
Royal Shakespeare Company: A Complete Record of the Year's Work. Royal Shakespeare Company. 1981. p. 104. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
Whelan, Peter (3 March 2008). Whelan Plays: 1. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9780413773050. Retrieved 8 March 2023.

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[kosok-1] Kozok, H. (12 July 2007). The Theatre of War: The First World War in British and Irish Drama. Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 39. ISBN 9780230590649. Retrieved 8 March 2023.

[pennino-2] Pennino, Anthony P. (7 August 2018). Staging the Past in the Age of Thatcher. Springer International Publishing. p. 43. ISBN 9783319966861. Retrieved 8 March 2023.

[billingtonguardian-3] Billington, Michael (22 January 2013). "The Accrington Pals – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 March 2023.

[rsc-4] Royal Shakespeare Company: A Complete Record of the Year's Work. Royal Shakespeare Company. 1981. p. 104. Retrieved 8 March 2023.

[firstpubcite-5] Whelan, Peter (3 March 2008). Whelan Plays: 1. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9780413773050. Retrieved 8 March 2023.