THE PLAY PRO~,U'CE.D : ':

THE ACCRINGTON PALS bv Peter Whelan

J

Sharon Goodman discusses her production for the East Essex Players

revolving it when necessary. This we did by forming a sandbag "wall"

necessary

We first presented this compelling and poigocll1t play sixteen years ago, te lling the story of the· smallest town in the British isles to raise its own battalion in the First World War; of the men and of the families they left behind . I had performed in the play at college, long before joining EEP, and was very keen to direct it. The time now seemed right to put it on again.

The play provides roles for two young men, four young women, two older men, an older woman and an adolescent. When planning our programme, over a year before auditioning, we were well-served for all the potential roles, but on the eve of rehea rsals our younger men had "evaporated" and I couldn't cas t one of the young mcn or the young lad! Urgent telephoning produced two actors who surpassed my expectations in their performances. Once the play was cast, we were lucky enough to have the services of a friend in another gro up a genuine Lancastrian - to provide voice coaching.

REHEA~.!~~~

Although the play is in two acts, each act is broken down into short scenes, alternating between a market stall , a kitchen, th e trenches, a garden... As a result I was able, to a large extent, to arrange rehears,lls as a series of "cnlls" so as not to frustrate cas t members turning up without delivering a line! By nnd large, people were off their books within a couple of weeks and we were able to concentrate on moveme nt and inferpret,ltions at our twi ce -w eek ly rehearsals . These took

place on our regular club night at the ultimate venue; at a church hall; and in a cast member's lounge!

We only ha ve one night a week at the Focus Theatre, Southend and we are allowed to use the venue from the Sunday before to the Sunday after during show week, presenting our plays on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday. During the rehearsa l period our backstage tea m was busy constructing the set, prod ucing a very authentic looking "range", a market stall which when revolved becnme n First World War trench, a garden fence... All of these would be installed, along with a few flats as the kitchen wnLls, at the get-in.

SETTING:~ ­... ~-~-"'" - - ..

As descr ibed above, the action moves quickly from one location to another. Although the script only calls for a tarpauJin to be pulled down over the market stall to create the trench scenes, we felt that it would enhance the show to produce a more authentic trench on the reverse of the stnll,

from chicken wire, covering it with hessian, papier-mache;: style, and painting it. The addition of a fire step and trench ladder completed the scene. We placed the stall/trench downstage right and the kitchen, consisting of a dresser, dining table, chairs and a range, stage left , creating a split stage. The kitchen sa t at an angle, on a hardwood floor, painted to effect stone bles, with flats for the two "back" walls.

We topped this off by flying a clothes airer above the range and setting a conduit pipe from the range into the back flat.

As it is a small stage, only a very small space intcrposed between the two settings and it was

lUi·

strike the stall entirely for the scene in the back yard. (This wa easily done, the trench being on casters.) A fence was set to divide the two "gardens", and a washinf: line, prev iously prepared with clothes, stnmg from wing to wing.

COSTliMES~"'-'-= .

All the lildies' cos tumes W '

relatively easily produced from within our own resources, bein" long skirts, blouses and apron_ One of the characte rs has t become a tra m cond uctress a the men remain in uniform (aplll'1 from one, in a bath-tub scent!' throughout. The boy has t

appear 111 a Boys' Briga de urtiform, complete with bugle,

one scene. All of lib; specialised cos tU nl and equipment \\ provided by flail" Enterprises Ltd CP.. , Torb ay Cos tUll'_ House), who provid the costu mes for original Land production. A !i tt . expertise was requin . to fit and adjust military uniforms a equipment; thankli. we had experienced ex-sold in the cast!

LIGHTING ,

The set being simple, I wanted use lighting to cr the atmosphere assist with the q action changes.

16

----

THE PLAY PRODUCED rigging was fairly straightforward, apart from the necessi ty of keeping a distinction between stage right and left. [here are a large amount of lighting cues, although these were fairly simple, apart from the scene where the Pals go "over the top" at the Somme in 1916. As this scene ended, the area stage right was bathed in a mix of red and purple, from abovE' and left, catching the men as they went to go "over". I had the men freeze in a tableau as smoke drifted in, and a spot slowing fad ed up, stage left, to one of the female characters singing "Oh Peaceful England". As the song continued, the men one by one moved away from the tableau, slowly upstage and off, signifying their deaths. Their light faded gradually, leaving a trail of smoke in a dim reddish glow. This faded out completely just before he r song ended.

SPECIAL ' EFFEcTs ; )'

[ had initially only considered using pyrotechnics of two types: some pellets (since our experience with smoke machines is that they are too "perSistent" and noisy) , and canisters which were supposed to create a bang and smoke, to enhance the scene where two soldiers appear as ghosts. At the dress rehearsal I discounted the use of the latter as they also "flashed" and made the appearance of one character look I ike something out of Aladdin! I did, however, use a strobe,

fired in single, random bursts to create the effect of shell fjre, in addition to flashes of light and sound effects. This was very effective.

The venue places the cast very close to the front row of the audience, so no special make-up was required, all the cast fitting the ir playing ages. A wound was applied to the head of the lad at the end of Act 1, together with the use of a blood pellet in his mouth; and a pale make-up applied to one of the ghost soldiers. Fortunately, as the time allowed for the applications was short, neither required any major technique!

SOUND

As with the lighting, there are numerous sound cues, ranging from factory hooters to birdsong, machine guns, shells and mines exploding. These were enhanced with computer software and worked very effectively. We were unable to get the sound of clogs on cobbles! We required two "practical" effects: whistles blown when the men "went over", which

had from around the auditorium, and a gunshot in the penultimate scene. The latter was produced by an ASM in the wings as the rife used, although authentic, had been deilctivated.

During the tim < s ince we lilst put on the play, Mih' Harding had recorded a song called "The Accrington Pals", which tells the story chronologically. We were able to use th.is for the opening music, the clo ing music and to cover some of the scene changes.

THE FOYER ~-

In order to create the right atmosphere before the play began, we dressed the foyer with as much ephemera concerning the Pals and the reat War as we could lay our hands on. Accringtol1 Library provided contemporary newspapers (which were also used on stage) and article relating to the Pals; we also had "Ki tchener" posters, trench maps and innumerable other printed facsimiles, which we bought as part of a resource pack provided by the Imperial War Museum. Gents' and Ladies' lavatories were redesignated "LAtrines - Soldiers" and "Latrines - Nurses" respectively. The

1t,,'.1

refreshment bar was re-titled "The Cook House". We had on display original medals of the period and a framed photograph of a cast member's grandfather in uniform. The publicity, programmes and tickets all contained the same logo in order to produce an identity.

As an added bonus, members of the Great War Society attended each night's performance wearing completely authentic equipment. They worked in the foyer, cha tting to playgoers and adding immeasurably to the atmosphere. Such was their attention to detilil, even the things we couldn't see were iluthentic: pay books, field postcards, identity discs, shirts, socks, and even underwear. According to one of them all that was missing was "the lice"! They gave their services freely and cheerfully and we are very grateful.

cONcujsT6~

The play was well-received by all our audiences, some of whom had never seen an amateur production before. The numbers of people who came exceeded all our expectations and it produced the biggest box-office receipts we have seen in 34 years (although not adjusted for infhltion). The cast enjoyed doing it immensely and as a result of its success we have had three new membership enquiries.

With the 80th anniversary of the end of the Great War In

November, I commend this play to amateur groups who wish to combine rc1i1tive simplicity of setting with a powerful yet entertaining production provided they don't get bowled over in the rush for costumes'

ALL SCRIPTS, SCORES AND LIBRETTI FEATURED IN

"THE PLAY PRODUCED" AND "THE MU~ICAL PRODUCED" CA BTA OM

TEL: 0171-837-5655 FAX: 0171-833-0609

17