The Accrington Pals tells the poignant story of the 700-strong battalion from Accrington, Lancashire that marched off to war in the summer of 1914, whistling as they went. 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 bloody 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. Inevitably, they all perish in the "big push” and the women band together to force the authorities to tell them the truth about the harrowing fates of their husbands and sons.
The Accrington Pals guide sections
