The Hall Players stage Stanley Houghton's controversial play about a mill girl in Lancashire on the eve of the First World War.
The Hall Players bring Hindle Wakes to the Preston Playhouse from 28 April to 1 May 2027, with all performances starting at 7:30pm. It's Stanley Houghton's play, directed by Maureen Nickson, and it's one of the first to put a working-class woman at the centre of the story.
The play is set in the Lancashire town of Hindle on the eve of the First World War. It follows Fanny Hawthorn, a spirited mill girl who's just come back from a weekend in Blackpool she spent with Alan Jeffcote, the son of a wealthy mill owner. There's a catch, of course: Alan is already engaged to someone else. When it first came out, the play caused a fair bit of controversy, and much of that comes from Fanny herself—a working-class woman who doesn't just take her place in the background.
It's a local story, too. The Lancashire setting puts it right on our doorstep, and the class divide between a mill girl and a mill owner's son is something that would have hit home in the town it's set in. The Hall Players are the ones bringing it to the stage, with Maureen Nickson directing.
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Tickets start from £12. If you're planning on seeing more than one show this season, there's a season pass available for £2 at the Box Office when you show a valid current-season ticket. That also covers parking for any evening performance throughout the season at no extra charge, so you won't have to worry about where to leave the car. The run goes from 28 April to 1 May, 7:30pm at the Preston Playhouse.
