It is worth going to see this thought provoking production for the advert-free programme alone. Containing a diary of major events of Word War One, photographs of the Accrington Pals at home and in the trenches, and a map of the British Army’s battle line in the Somme, it helped set the scene.

Upon entering this small theatre you see a sloping cobbled street with gutters that later take the bath water, an old market barrow, and a kitchen scene with table, four chairs and a working class cooking range. The story opens with the help of real rain falling onto the barrow. The drab cotton mill dresses on the women and the men’s army uniforms create the atmosphere of 1914.

May, played excellently by Amy Robbins, is on stage most of the time. She is a strong willed and determined twenty nine year old who owns the fruit and veg barrow but plans to better herself by buying a shop. She suppresses the love she feels for her young lodger,Tom, and finds it difficult to relate to the deep emotions shown by her friends when the men, join up, leave, and subsequently lose their lives in the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

In Act One Tom (Richard Glaves), Arthur (Bruce McGregor) and Ralph (Luke Jardine) are full of life and optimism. The women they leave behind are more realistic and struggle to keep the families together. Raw emotion shows through all their performances, in particular those of Annie (Karen Henthorn), Sarah (Jane Cameron), and Eva (Katherine Kelly).

The struggle of everyday life and the worry that their men may be killed is a strong bond in the lives of the women but May remains apart, keeping her emotions at bay and chastising the others for expressing their deep need of physical love.

Act Two dwells on the reality of the war and with excellent strobe lighting, gunfire and cannon noise effects in full surround sound we in are in trenches. We listen to the men rehearse the letters they want to write to their loved ones and then see them ‘walk’ across the battle plain to certain death.

The scene returns to Accrington where the women read in the newspapers that the war is being won. The excitement is short-lived with conflicting news, rumours and misinformation about the Accrington Pals on the front line and the numbers of survivors. The anguish of not knowing whether or not they are alive is superseded by the despair on hearing that their men are dead. This was movingly portrayed by the cast, in particular by Annie on seeing her husband’s badly wounded racing pigeon attempting to return to its coup.

The play ends with May talking to the ghost of Tom. She is full of remorse that she hadn’t shown Tom the love he craved — and now it was too late.

Accrington Pals’ director, Edward Kemp, kept the story moving with excellent use of the small space the stage offers. All available entrances were used to good effect as was the lighting and surround sound effects. There were moments of humour but for me at least many punch lines were lost due to dropped voices and poor diction.

The unexpected sight of a nude Ralph dropping his towel to get into a tin bath in front of the fire caused a stir of ‘excitement’ in the audience.

All in all this three hour play by Peter Whelan is well worth a visit. It highlights the longings and suffering of women left behind in an age where communication was lacking and the need for mutual support essential for survival. © JMB

“The Accrington Pals” is in Chichester from the 16th of January until the 9th of February, 2002.