"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 "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 "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 "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.