By Brad Marshall 

A NEW play, 'Edward and Eliza and the smashing of the van’ from Bolton theatre company, Straightforward Theatre, begins its UK-wide tour this week.

The play, written by Bolton based playwright Eileen Murphy who has worked with many theatre companies in the North West before forming Straightforward Theatre, centres on the 'Manchester Martyrs' and the after-effects of their deaths.

The tour opens at Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester on October 5 and includes a date at Bolton Socialist Club on October 27.

"We formed specifically to produce this play, so we have only been in existence for about a year," Eileen said.

"We are quite a young company and we are hoping for quite a success.

"The play is harrowing in parts but it is also heartwarming and it has moments of humour as well."

Based on real events, the play tells the story of married couple Edward and Eliza in the aftermath of the public hanging of three Irishmen known as the 'Manchester Martyrs', and marks the 150th anniversary of the event.

In September, 1867 a police van carrying two Irish rebels in Hyde Road, Manchester was set upon by a band of Irishmen and the rebels were freed, killing a policeman, Sergeant Charles Brett, in the process.

As waves of anti-Irish sentiment swept the country, three Irishmen, whose involvement has been disputed, were tried, found guilty and hanged in front of a large crowd outside the New Bailey prison, Salford.

Their deaths saw huge processions and monuments raised across Britain and Ireland, including in Manchester.

During research for the play Eileen discovered Sergeant Brett had an Irish sister-in-law, Eliza, married to a retired British Army drum-major, living in Macclesfield.

After Edward's death, Eliza moved to Bolton, living with her daughter and husband until she died, and was buried in Heaton cemetery.

Eileen was intrigued by the effects the events in Manchester, and anti-Irish sentiment may have had on Edward and Eliza.

"I have always loved the story since I first heard it, over 40 years ago. I find it absolutely fascinating" said Eileen

"This couple has haunted me, and one of the reasons it has haunted me is because after these events Eliza came to live in Bolton.

"When I have got a little depressed or fed up with the play, I would walk past the place that she died and some how this encouraged me to carry on."