About

One of the greatest Northern dramas of all time Love on the Dole speaks as powerfully now as when it was first presented in 1931.  It is a wonderfully rich and deeply moving picture of the enduring power of love and the strength of human resistance.

The Great Depression has gripped everyone in Hanky Park, Lancashire.  Despite the joy of her recent engagement, Sally Hardcastle and her family are struggling to make ends meet.  Her brother, Harry, faces an uncertain future: out of work, a baby on the way and facing the dreaded Means Test.

When a powerful rival for Sally's affection makes his feelings known, she's offered the chance to save her family from being torn apart.  But can Sally sacrifice her integrity to secure the happiness of the people she loves?

Love on the Dole was a landmark play in British Theatre and was voted one of the National Theatre's Best 100 Plays of the Twentieth Century.

"The play moved me terribly and must move anybody who still has about him that old-fashioned thing - a heart" The Sunday Times