THE Alman Dramatic Club will bring one of the great plays of the 20th century to the stage in Alloa.

Men Should Weep is a reminder of the unequal expectations, aspirations and opportunities Scottish women suffered in the recent past.

Set in Glasgow during the 1930s, it tells the story of the Morrison family who still manage to find moments of joy and laughter in the face of poverty and depression.

Written by Ena Lamont Stewart, dubbed as one of the most remarkable of all Scottish female playwrights, the mighty tenement tragedy opened in the city in 1947.

It won great acclaim for the unacknowledged role of women in ensuring the survival of hard-pressed families.

Powerfully realistic, raw and challenging, her expose of tenement tensions is of men cocooned by the accepted social mores in the Great Depression and of women, judged by different rules and expectations.

In the 1930s, she worked as a medical secretary and receptionist at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow where she witnessed the impact of poor housing and chronic poverty on the health of struggling families.

Her first major stage success came in 1945, with the Glasgow Unity production of her hospital drama Starched Aprons, about the exploitation of nurses before the National Health System was taken for granted.

Men Should Weep was written over a single weekend in 1946, at a time when Lamont Stewart's marriage was beginning to fail, and she was facing the frightening prospect of life as a single mother in 1940s Britain.

Consequently, her heightened feeling for gender politics, and for the burdens that fall on women, was not surprising.

Her popularity waned. Who wanted to remind Scottish society of its inequalities?

Her work was neglected until 1982, when John McGrath's 7:84 company revived Men Should Weep as part of their famous Clydebuilt season, in a superb production by Giles Havergal.

It firmly established the play as a 20th century classic, and helped ensure its recent inclusion in a Royal National Theatre list of the 100 greatest plays of the century.

The Alman recognised the importance of Men Should Weep by presenting it as the central feature of its Golden Anniversary in 1989.

Ena Lamont Stewart attended as a special guest, addressed the audience at the end, spoke individually to the cast members and praised their work.

The theatre group will bring the story to life once again, at The Coach House Theatre at the end of November and beginning of December.

The run kicks off with performances on Tuesday, November 28 and Wednesday, November 29 at 7.30pm.

Further dates include, Friday, December 1 at 7.30pm, Saturday, December 2 at 2.30pm, Monday, December 4 and Tuesday, December 5, Thursday, December 7 and Friday, December 8 all at 7.30pm

All tickets are priced at £11, available at thealman.com