A CRITICALLY acclaimed new play and a contemporary version of a classic horror story are billed for March at the Georgian Theatre Royal in Richmond.

United We Stand, which is staged next Friday, is based on the story of the Shrewsbury 24 – when 24 building workers were accused and three jailed for violent picketing and intimidating workers in Shropshire in 1973.

In the 1960s and 1970s, UK building companies were making millions rebuilding the country, but workers faced dangerous conditions and poorest wages of any trade.

In the summer of 1972, for 12 weeks, 300,000 building workers launched the industry's first national all-out strike to end cash "lump" wages and seek better pay by using the controversial tactic of flying pickets.

The partial success of the strike and methods used enraged the construction industry and government and led to the arrest of 24 builders who were charged with offences including conspiracy to intimidate and affray.

They were prosecuted at Shrewsbury Crown Court in 1973 and three were jailed, including Ricky Tomlinson, now a well known actor who heads the Shrewsbury 24 Campaign which seeks to overturn the prosecution.

He said: "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.”

Sharp and humorous, United We Stand tells the story behind the 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 presented by Townsend Productions with a cast of two playing multiple roles, with popular and political songs about the strike arranged by folk musician John Kirkpatrick and Tomlinson's poems from his time in prison.

The director is Louise Townsend and cast members are Neil Gore and William Fox.

Later in the month, the Georgian presents a new stage adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic story of Jekyll and Hyde set in an alternative London of the future consumed by the quest for immortality.

Dr Henry Jekyll is a high-profile cancer specialist, determined to find a cure. In his obsession to be the doctor that makes this historic breakthrough, his radical research results in the creation of an unintentional strain of drug that entirely alters the patient’s personality.

As the subject of his own experiments, he unleashes his inner demons in the form a hideous alter ego, Mr Hyde.

The vivid depiction of a regressive future is written by Jo Clifford and presented by the touring company Sell a Door, which has an award-winning reputation for producing contemporary new writing.

Clifford, with almost 80 dramatic works to her name, is perhaps best known for her adaptation of Great Expectations, first presented in 1988, which was recently revived in a new production at the West End’s Vaudeville Theatre.

The title roles will be played by Nathan Ives-Moiba, with Lyle Barke as Utterson and Rowena Lennon as Dr Lanyon.

Both plays are performed at 7.30pm with tickets costing from £7-£20. Book on 01748 825252 or online at georgiantheatreroyal.co.uk.