The Accrington Pals

I was warmly welcomed by Vicky Tearle and several of the committee members and had the opportunity of a discussion with the Director, David Thompson and Assistant Director, Brenda White-Robinson before the performance started.

This play is highly charged and emotive dealing as it does with the impact on a community of the First World War. It takes place in the Lancastershire town of Accrington where between 700-1000 of the local men and boys are marched off to fight in the Accrington Regiment, known as The Accrington Pals. The women are left behind to deal with the angst and uncertainty of the times whilst struggling to adapt to the new social order and freedoms. However, there are also some funny and light hearted moments.

Without exception, all the cast performed very well, being fully on top of their lines and characters and ,most importantly, mastering and maintaining the accent. Jo Thorne, playing May, captured the independent and hard working character of the shop keeper admirably. Alex Bass, as Tom, was the dreamy and laid back second cousin of May, desperately hoping for May’s affection. Eva, played by Gabrielle Tyler was self possessed and full of energy and in love with her sweetheart, Ralph, played by Liam Kerr. This couple were very well paired as their roles complemented each other beautifully .Charlotte Root and Becky Stevens played two mill girls, Sarah and Bertha both capturing very realistically the torture of being left behind with no real role. However, Bertha trained to become a tram conductor and the character became far more positive which Becky reflected well in her interpretation.

Rosemary Sturgiss played Annie mother of Reggie (Jerome Adams-Hall) and wife of Arthur(Shaun Potter) the Minister .Annie was a somewhat upper class woman, terrorising Reggie but fell apart totally when news of Arthur’s death was received. Very well acted !

Simon Todd , as CSM Rivers,  injected just the right amount of command and control into the role.

There was a very poignant moment with the wistful and beautiful rendition of ‘Oh Peaceful England’ which was performed exquisitively.

The production was well directed by David Thompson, assisted by Brenda White-Robinson and the casting was very effective. Set design and building (Terry White, Ron Crabtree, Bernard Woollaston) was interesting, depicting different scenarios within one build but it worked. The set was suitably drab and relevant to the times. Props ( Barbara Tyrrel)  were used to add to the set and scene changes. Lighting, (Callum Mills) and sound ( Hector Moyes) were well used and there were good sound effects. Costumes, some of which had been hired in  and/or lent were well sourced and in keeping with the times .Barbara Tyrrel and both the Director and Assistant Director were all involved in costuming the production.

This was an ambitious production in this year of commemorating the centenary of the ending of the First World War and I would have expected it to be well supported by the public. Sadly this was not the case when I attended on the first night with a very small audience but hopefully there will have been better takeup later in the week. This play certainly deserves to be seen.

Well done to everyone involved!

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