" Accrington Pals..... At Ashton Hayes"

We'd never visited Ashton Hayes Theatre Club.....

BUT after enjoying their Autumn production: Peter Whelan's " The Accrington Pals"....directed by Robert Meadows.....I imagine we'll be "regulars".............hmm.... IS there a word for theatre club "groupies"...of a certain age???

Ashton Hayes is a long established club in a Cheshire village....2 productions annually...and if the printed programme is anything to go by, it's a close-knit and happy company....
In "Pals", there are certainly new additions to the cast........but there are clearly faithful  longtime members. 
AND Like Chester Theatre Club, this mix is always A Good Thing...

The script of "Pals" is nothing short of BEAUTIFUL.......while watching, I kept thinking: " Say that bit again, please!".....and the play, with some fine acting from a confident cast....told about the battalion gathered together in 1914 at the start of World War 1. 
It's about family.....community.....War in its explicit horror.......584 Pals died at the Battle of the Somme...out of a total of 720. 
But in all this, the play tells much about Love....and the cast revealed this generously.