The Accrington Pals With an Introduction by John Davey

One of the best plays ever about the first world war ... The strength of Whelan's play is that it captures ... the contradictions of the time ... Whelan also has the natural dramatist's knack of expressing his ideas through purely theatrical means ... For all the great poems, novels and movies produced by the first world war, nothing quite matches theatre for pulverising your emotions. Michael Billington Guardian 20130123

One of the best plays ever about the first world war ... The strength of Whelan's play is that it captures ... the contradictions of the time ... Whelan also has the natural dramatist's knack of expressing his ideas through purely theatrical means ... For all the great poems, novels and movies produced by the first world war, nothing quite matches theatre for pulverising your emotions. -- Michael Billington Guardian 20130123 Funny, touching and real ... We know the end, and the late scenes are terrifying; yet within the horror is a saving evocation of rebellion. -- Libby Purves The Times 20130124 This is a drama full of warmth between both women and men, yet full, too, of asperity and political scepticism ... The Accrington Pals is a revelation. It chronicles in the round a vital piece of 20th-century history, showing the battlefield but concentrating on civilian life. It goes beyond documentary, drawing on a visionary stage vocabulary and creating individual stories that are both desolating and stirring ... It's a wonderful play for anywhere. -- Susannah Clapp Observer 20130127 Whelan writes with a poet's ear for colloquial turns of phrase and characterfully expressed thoughts but there's nothing sentimental about this communal portrait ... To say that it leaves you emotionally shattered almost feels like an insult to those bygone souls and the horrors they faced but quietly shattering it is, all the same. -- Dominic Cavendish Telegraph 20130126