FROM the company that brought The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists and We Will Be Free comes a new play about the story of the Shrewsbury 24.

United We Stand, by Neil Gore, will play at Helmsley Arts Centre on Saturday, at 7.30pm, and is based on the 1972 builders’ strike.

The events surrounding the strike are still making headlines to this day and, 42 years on, the high-profile Shrewsbury 24 campaign, led by picket-turned-actor Ricky Tomlinson, is still seeking to overturn the prosecution of 24 building workers.

Sharp and humorous, United We Stand tells the story behind the compelling dispute and dispels the myth, put about at the time, that the pickets were criminally violent rather than ordinary working men seeking a better life for themselves and their fellow workers.

It is a powerful and thought-provoking new play combining Townsend Productions’ grand theatrical style and wit with popular and political songs arranged by renowned folk musician John Kirkpatrick and Ricky Tomlinson’s poems from his time in prison.

Ricky Tomlinson said: “I am delighted The Townsend Theatre Company is presenting a play about the 1972 building workers strike and the plight of the Shrewsbury 24 building worker pickets. It is 41 years since I, together with Des Warren and John McKinsie Jones, were charged with conspiracy and jailed.

“We were charged with conspiracy, but we believe the real conspiracy was between the government, the building contractors and the judiciary. They wanted the prison sentences to act as a deterrent, to prevent workers from taking strike action. Every worker should know what happened to us so as to ensure it does not happen again.”

Playwright Neil Gore said: “By producing this piece of theatre we are aiming to raise awareness of the determination and courage of those who sacrificed their freedom, reputations and opportunities in seeking better conditions for their fellow workers, and to focus sharply on the political nature of the case brought against them – the ‘real conspiracy’ initiated and devised by government, big business and the law.”

Tickets are £12, concessions £10 and are available at the box office on 01439 771700.