Northern Broadsides return to The Dukes in Lancaster next month with their new Lancashire play marking the centenary of the start of World War One.
An August Bank Holiday Lark, which runs from March 4-8, takes its title from a line in a Philip Larkin poem and explores the impact of the Great War on a rural community in East Lancashire.
The play features a celebration of a Rushbearing Festival with singing, courting, drinking as well as clog and morris dancing. The looming war barely registers…
Playwright Deborah McAndrew said: “The play focuses on one small community and the often-overlooked British involvement on the Eastern Front. Countless Lancashire lads exchanged Pennine drizzle for the searing Turkish sun and gave their lives at The August Offensive in Gallipoli.”
An August Bank Holiday Lark is directed by and will feature Northern Broadsides artistic director Barrie Rutter. Among the cast are some whose grandfathers and great grandfathers fought in World War One.
You can hear an interview with Deborah McAndrew about the play on the BTG podcast.