Malvern Theatre Players _ The Accrington Pals

The Accrington Pals by Peter Whelan

In their third annual visit to Brixham Theatre, Malvern Theatre Players will present The Accrington Pals by Peter Whelan, on Saturday 26th of July with performances at 2:30 and 7:30. The play will be the final show of the Players’ 37th season of residency at Malvern Theatres.

About The Accrington Pals

In the days when much of the globe was coloured pink and Victoria was not only a queen but also an empress, war happened far away. Men went to fight in places with exotic names, news came fitfully often long after the last shot had been fired.

In 1914 war came to the Home Front. The conflict was unavoidable and dominated every aspect of life. the sound of artillery in France could be heard across the Channel in the fields of Kent. Immediately the war began the call went out for volunteers to enlist. Lord Kitchener announced that he wanted half a million men to join up – and soon doubled that figure. Nearly two and a half men were to take the King’ shilling in the next eighteen months.

Among those who volunteered were the men from Accrington in Lancashire who raised their own Pals Battalion, the 11th Battalion of the east Lancashire Regiment. In Peter Whelan’s play Tom, Ralph and Arthur are excited to be leaving, anticipating their new lives fighting for King and country. In Act 2 however, in France, the brutality of life in the trenches is brought home and they are forced to acknowledge the bitter truth of their betrayal by inept military leaders.

The war was immense like no other in memory and the country was so stretched, so tested that it needed the strengths and abilities of its women, otherwise there would be no victory. Peter Whelan Conceived the play as being about “what happened to the women back home” during the Great War, so the women’s experiences occupy a central part of the play.

These mothers, wives, daughters and lovers of the Pals didn’t knuckle down sheepishly to authority. The play captures the spirit of the times. And so May, Eva, Sarah, Bertha and Annie overcome their sense of deprivation to band together and fulfil unrealised potential (just as the men rejoice in military comradeship.

We are made aware of the relationships of four couples in the play. All are very different but the central political issue of the play is bound up with May and Tom. May is a strong – minded, tough woman who believes that the only way for the working classes to get on is the individualist route; she has created an independent life for herself with her greengrocery stall. Tom is a dreamy idealist. He has Socialist and progressive views and he believes that he will find, in the army, an example of his desired society. Their relationship is also complicated by their family history, though their love for each other is plain to see.

At times funny, at times sad, the play paints a moving and powerful picture of the changes in civilian life during war time. We remember the men who died – and the women who fought on the Home Front.

Tickets £12 (£10 Child/Student/Seniors)

For more information visit http://www.wegottickets.com/