"Accrington Pals" by Peter Whelan.

West Bridgford Dramatic Society.

The Studio, West Bridgford.

Of late, there seems to have been quite a few plays that I have not seen before, which is great for me, and for theatre fans in the area. "Accrington Pals" is another that I can add to the list of classic plays I've now had the pleasure of ticking off of that list, and could not have been timed better.

"Accrington Pals" is the poignant story of the 700-strong battalion from Accrington, Lancashire that marched off to war in the summer of 1914. But this play is as much about the women they left behind as the men themselves.

Spanning the period up to the battle of the Somme in July 1916, national optimism and jingoism begins to wane as the terror and sacrifice of war sets in. Back at home, the women find a sense of solidarity as they keep the town afloat and comfort each other in their loneliness. However, local stallholder, May, remains an outsider who battles with her inability to express her love for her younger cousin, Tom, who is fighting in France with the rest of the town’s men. The women band together to force the authorities to tell them the truth about the harrowing fates of their husbands and sons.

May, a fruit and veg stallholder, is fiercely independent, brusque, and outspoken. She lives with Tom, her younger cousin, who also works a shift on the stall for her. Although she is quick to put him down and disapproves of much of his behaviour, she is extremely fond of her cousin. May is played by Lesley Flounders and puts in an extremely powerful and passionate performance, especially the final scenes.

Joe Moore, who makes his WBDS debut, plays Tom, a lithography apprentice, aged 19. He is a talented artist and often draws sketches of his friends and neighbours. He also covers the early shift at May’s stall. Although there is a large age difference, Tom is extremely fond of May. This is clearly not Joe's stage debut as he oozes great confidence when performing.

Eva is played by Rachel Lindsay, who also makes her WBDS debut. Eva is a local farm worker and Ralph’s sweetheart. She is initially pleased for him to be getting away from the office and heading off to war. However, she misses him terribly when he is gone. Eva becomes May’s lodger and takes over Tom’s early shift on the stall. This is another wonderful debut for WBDS, like Joe, completely confident on stage. there were times that I actually thought that Eva was on the brink of tears, showing a talent for emotional drama.

Josh Plank plays Ralph, a local clerk, and is fed up with working in an office and is pleased to have joined up and to be heading off to war. He is a cheerful, cheeky chap, who flirts with all the women in the town. However, his heart belongs to Eva, despite one section of the play shows Ralph relating his war time transgressions. You can feel the frustration and fear in Ralph, via Josh, in the scenes of war time action.

Annie is a housewife in her late thirties. She is married to Arthur and they have a teenage son, Reggie. She is loud and rough around the edges. The neighbors all hear her coming and she is renowned for bringing her family arguments out onto the streets. Annie is played brilliantly by Linda Hoyland.

Dom Gaskell is Reggie. He plays the bugle in the Boys Brigade and is a typically cheeky teenage boy. He delights in teaching younger boys a rude rhyme and showing where to illegally poach fish. It's nice to see Dom on stage as so often I have mentioned his talents behind the scenes as well as in the lighting department, proving what a flexible member Dom is.

Arthur is Annie’s husband. Both Arthur and Reggie put up with Annie’s bad temper and loud personality. Arthur is a religious man and he leads the neighbours in prayer just moments before the local men head off to war. Arthur brings to life on stage a job that I was last told about at school by my French teacher, who was a wonderful Yorkshireman. He used to tell us about a "tapper's harker" and a "knocker upper", who was someone, like Arthur, who used to go around the houses waking people up in the early morning by tapping on windows and doors with a big stick, way ahead of the alarm clock.  Arthur is played by Rob Dixon in a very different role to others that I've had the pleasure of seeing him perform.

Sarah is played by Dawn Cochrane. Sarah is a married mill worker who enjoys winding Annie up and watching her explode. She feels stuck in a dead-end job with young children to look after, and dreams of starting afresh. Away from the family commitments, and with her friends, Sarah becomes a very different, fun character who loves to let her hair down in their presence. Her husband, Bill, goes to war with the rest of the town’s men.

Bertha is played by Emily Martin. She is an 18-year-old mill worker, young and naive, and believes everything she reads in the papers. She takes pride in her appearance and wants to appear attractive. With the men away at war, Bertha gets a new job as a tram conductor, where she attracts the glances of one particular man who proposes marriage, but Bertha is fiercely independent and knows what she wants in a husband.  

Bertie Black is CSM Rivers, a soldier in his thirties or forties. He is the warrant officer in the recruiting office. Rivers was on the point of retiring from the army before the war started. He is calm and persuasive when May comes to see him about relinquishing Tom from his army role.

Apart from the wonderful acting from all, I must also commend the accents from all. I love accents, especially when they are done with such style and unwavering accuracy throughout the whole play.

Directed by Barbara Seymour there's a lovely smooth flow of storyline, and when the comedy moments come in, it immediately breaks the seriousness of this piece of theatre. The fear, anxiety and frustration of war is always there, even behind the comic pieces. The individual characters of the people in the play are well expanded, making it easy to know who they were and their back stories.

Production Manager and Stage Manager is Lynn Burgess. 

Set Designer is Candice Gush and the construction of the set is thanks to Ritchie Sharpe. The artwork for the set pieces are quite beautiful, and would not look amiss hanging on a wall. The scenery stage right reminded me of a still from "Watership Down".

Lighting Design is by Sav Dixon and operated by Jeff Tullin. The whole impression of war was created really well thanks to the lighting design, as well separating the individual scenes with slow fades. 

Sound Designer and Operator is Jem Woolley. As with the lighting design, the sound design created  just the right impression of the bombing raid, and that combination of sound and light put you right in the middle of war.

The costumes and props are thanks to Charlie Willcox Costumes are excellent for every actor and the props looked very era specific. How much sourcing went into the props to make this play look just right, I couldn't ponder, but every prop was appreciated by this prop geek.

"Accrington Pals" is being performed at The Studio in West Bridgford until Saturday 14 November. You may need a small pack of tissues at the end!