EXPERT advice has been sought to capture an accurate depiction of the First World War in a play coming to Abingdon.

Members of Abingdon Drama Club turned to military and historical adviser Tony Green for help with their production of Peter Whelan’s The Accrington Pals at the Unicorn Theatre from Wednesday to Saturday, June 26 to 29, at 7.30pm.

Set in the opening years of the Great War, the story itself is fiction, but its background is based on real-life events which saw Pals battalions formed in towns and cities.

Director Alex Codling and the cast worked with Tony who has been an adviser on a number of national theatre tours, including Oh, What a Lovely War, Henry V, Macbeth, Wounded and Journey’s End, and has just finished work on the first national tour of Birdsong.

And one of the first moves by Tony, an Army reservist for 12 years with tours of Afghanistan and Iraq under his belt, was to ban all mention of the portrayal of the period in television comedy Blackadder with Rowan Atkinson.

Tony said: “I have worked on most World War One plays at some stage but The Accrington Pals was one that I had not yet been involved with. “I offered my services to ADC and Alex Codling, the director, invited me along to the first read-through and casting. “This was particularly interesting to me because the national tours I have worked on have already been cast before I get involved.”

With Secretary of State for War Lord Kitchener’s belief that overwhelming manpower was the key to winning the war against the ‘Hun’, men were recruited to the Pals battalions with the promise they would be able to serve alongside friends, neighbours and work colleagues rather than being allocated to regular Army regiments.

But when these battalions suffered heavy casualties, such as those at the Battle of the Somme, their respective towns, villages and communities suffered disproportionate losses and, with the introduction of conscription at the start of 1916, no further Pals battalions were raised.

In his play, Whelan follows the journey of one such group of volunteers, the 11th (Service) Battalion (Accrington) East Lancashire Regiment, better known as the Accrington Pals, and the women they loved and left behind at home.

Both funny and heartbreaking, the play’s light-hearted moments stand in stark contrast to the horror the men faced at the Somme in 1916. Back home, their women come together as friends when facing financial, social and sexual deprivation, as well as being thrown into the social changes that came with the absence of so many men.

Speaking of the group’s preparation, Tony said: “After the play was cast, I met the team and took them through a few important points about the time in which the play is set. I always feel it is important to debunk the commonly-held myths about the First World War in order for the actors’ approach to finding their characters to be a realistic one. As a result, all mention of Blackadder was banned!

“I then showed the cast some artefacts, equipment and weaponry from the time. We dressed someone up in the full kit of a frontline soldier so those involved could have some early exposure to the type of costumes they would be wearing.

“We also did some drill which the Sergeant Major then took over – and a very good job he did too! I also discussed what would be needed with the costume designer.”

The cast is: May, Alex Codling; Tom, Terry Atkinson; Ralph, Lee Orchard; Eva, Rebecca Peberdy; Sarah, Rosie Clarke; Bertha, Carrie Bell; Annie, Lynne Smith; Arthur, John Hawkins; Reggie, Ashley Curran; Company Sergeant Major Rivers, Jon Crowley and soldier, Richard Wilson.

Tickets are £8 full price and £7 concessions are available from The Bookstore, Abingdon, or online at www.abingdon-drama-club.com. For group bookings, email info@abingdonabbey-unicorntheatre.org.uk