THE ACCRINGTON PALS
by Peter Whelan

The Dukes, Moor Lane, Lancaster
Thursday 27 October ­ Saturday 19 November 2005

A powerful and poignant production

The Accrington Pals, by Peter Whelan, received its first performance by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1981 and, unlike some 1980s theatre, is a classic which deals with issues that are every bit as relevant today as then. Perhaps, with British troops currently fighting on foreign soil, even more so.

The bitter-sweet story tells of three of the hundreds of men of Accrington and its environs who joined up, served at the Battle of the Somme in 1916 during the First World War and would pay the ultimate price. Perhaps more importantly, the play also deals with the women and families they left behind -- the wives, sweethearts, friends and neighbours.

Dealing as it does with military conflict, there are inevitably other conflicts in the play. Dreams and ruthless reality, truth and lies, faith and doubt, love and lust (fulfilled and frustrated), dependence and equality, male and female, a living death and life after death, the surreal and the shocking are all there in a text that some observers have judged to be flawed.

Flawed or not, the visual and visceral impacts of this production are delivered with sensitivity, passion and integrity. As in Under Milk Wood, Director Ian Hastings uses the extremes of the Dukes' main house stage and, again, the set is simple and seems totally authentic to the period -- right down to the tin bath before the fire (they used it, too -- but go and see it to find out who was in it!).

The costumes, lighting and sound effects also complemented the authentic period feel, and heightened the characterisation of the various combatants and victims. The seemingly indomitable heroine of the piece, May, was admirably played by Amy Rhiannon Worth -- and at short notice as the original actress was admitted to hospital in the last week before curtain-up.

Hers was not the only sterling performance, and there were some wonderful cameos delivered ranging from the heartrending to the grimly comic. All this, appropriately, in a fine East Lancashire brogue. Ensemble playing, too, was excellent and finely judged.

Perhaps as a socialist or a pacifist I had always had reservations, or at least uncomfortable feelings, about anything militaristic, but in reading and then researching the play I underwent something of a minor Damascene conversion. The Accrington Pals is a powerful, poignant reminder that, nearly ninety years after the event, the town's tragedy as well as the holocaust in France and Flanders should never be forgot.

This production has demonstrated yet again that The Dukes is a real asset to the region and another Lancaster treasure as the North West's leading producing house. Ian Hastings seems to go from strength to strength in providing theatre of the highest quality and which puts many London stages to shame.

Copyright © 7 November 2005 Michael Nunn

Editor's note - Michael was commissioned by The Dukes to write the programme notes for this production.