The Accrington Pals is a poignant and harrowing play set in the early years of the First World War as the country’s jingoistic optimism starts to wane and the true terror of warfare gradually becomes clear. The play looks at both the terrifying experiences of the men at the front and the women who were left behind to face social changes, deprivation and the lies of propaganda. While often comic vignettes portray the everyday life of a town denuded of men, the men face the terror that is the Battle of the Somme.

It is published here as a Methuen Drama Student Edition with commentary and notes by John Davey, Acting Head and Lecturer at the University of West London, which provide a comprehensive contextual background and elucidation of the text, and its dramatic qualities.