Peter Whelan's 1981 play The Accrington Pals was last directed at the Tower by Val Whitehouse in 1985. It was then and remains today a powerful indictment of the desperate need for more men to volunteer for slaughter before conscription was introduced during the First World War. Thus was born the idea of "Get them in groups" – whole villages & towns – known as Pals Companies. Over 700 Accrington men went gaily to the Somme in July 1916. Of these, 584 were immediately killed or severely wounded.

What distinguishes this play from Journey's End or All Quiet on the Western Front is that it is as much about the women left behind as the men. We see the burgeoning Suffragette movement, put on hold for the duration but waiting to be reborn. The first tram conductresses wore calf length skirts whilst other women were still in long skirts. Left to manage the fruit and veg stall, leading character May turns into a business woman, looking and finding opportunities to make money. Interspersed with scenes from the trenches, with which we are much more familiar, it gives a rounded and frequently moving panorama of the time. We know the story and the ending but the details of their lives – a soldier with his pigeon, a girl remembering a tin bath – brings the past alive again. One such moment was certainly the appalling battle noise behind Eva, dressed as Britannia, trying to sing Edward German's patriotic song O Peaceful England but breaking down and unable to finish.

It is interesting to consider, for a moment, why we in England are so much more immersed in memories of the Great War than other countries. Nowhere – not France, not Germany, not Russia – is commemorating as much as here. Their losses were, in fact, greater than ours. Is it perhaps because they all suffered much more than us during the Second World War so that the first has been eclipsed?

Director Lesley Strachan and Assistant Director Simona Hughes, together with set designer Jude Chalk, realistic sound by Ruth Sullivan and suitably shadowed lighting from Rob Irvine held our attention for two and a half hours. (Some thought this too long, but I appreciate cutting would have been difficult.) A very ensemble piece, there were nonetheless some outstanding individual performances, notably from young Richard Brent and Amy Harrison (Ralph & Eva) falling in love, Anthony Green (Arthur) loving both his pigeon and God, and Justin Stahley (CSM Rivers). This last was a strange character : a kindly Sergeant Major who was almost an outsider, like a narrator.

I was less happy with Jillian Bradley's interpretation of May. It is not easy to portray an older woman unwillingly attracted to her 19 year old cousin Tom, (sensitively played by George Turner) whilst at the same time fulfilling her own business acumen, but the flat rancour came over as sourness rather than concealment, and, during the opening scene of May talking to Eva, one apple being endlessly polished does not portray a busy stall holder. I am too much of a Londoner to be able to judge whether the Lancashire accent was realistic or not, but I certainly found it hard to understand during moments of high volume! This, however, did not detract from the well choreographed scene of the soldiers going over the top and in slow motion to their deaths.

Well attended houses attested to the apposite timing of this production. As Front of House Manager for the matinee, I was greeted by the first person to leave the auditorium with "Saw this 15 years ago in Bolton. This was better!" So well done to all, particularly the newcomers to the Tower. P.S. Figures of fighting forces actually killed : British Empire : 908,371 Russia : 1,700,000 France : 1,357,000 Germany : 1,773,700

Photography by Ruth Anthony