The Accrington Pals (play)

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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.

Contents

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

Other productions

Publication history

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

Scenes

Act 1

Act 2

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References

  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.
  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.
  3. 1 2 Billington, Michael (22 January 2013). "The Accrington Pals – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  4. Royal Shakespeare Company: A Complete Record of the Year's Work. Royal Shakespeare Company. p. 104. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  5. Whelan, Peter (3 March 2008). Whelan Plays: 1. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN   9780413773050 . Retrieved 8 March 2023.