The playwright and the play

Stanley Houghton, who wrote the play, became a dramatist and writer after being involved in amateur theatricals and being a journalist for the Manchester Guardian and Manchester Evening News. He was one of a group of northern playwrights, known as the ' Manchester School' who wrote for the Gaiety Theatre in Manchester, probably Britain's first repertory theatre. In the early 20 th century, there was a movement for social and regional dramas based on the newly emerged repertory circuit. This movement was strongly influenced by modern European dramatist, especially Henrik Ibsen. Hindle Wakes opened in 1912, and then enjoyed a London success at the Aldwych Theatre. Houghton moved to London, then Paris and Venice, returning to Manchester where he died in 1913, aged only 32.

The play uses the Lancashire dialect and the first edition of the play notes,

This play is about Lancashire people. In the smaller Lancashire towns it is quite usual for well-to-do persons, … to drop more or less into dialect when familiar, or when excited, or to point a joke [sic].

Apart from the two Elvey film versions of the play (made in 1918 and 1927), there is a sound version of the film made in 1931 (see screenonline), another made in 1952, and two television versions, one produced by the BBC in the 1950s and one produced by Granada in 1976.