THE fearless women who drove ambulances onto the battlefields in World War One are about to have their gripping tale transported to the stage.

Several venues across the West Midlands will be hosting FANY, a startling new play about courage, bravery and exception from the Innovative Theatre Company Anonymous is a Woman.

As part of the Imperial War Museum's Centenary Partnership FANY is about five women in one war and with one purpose and tells of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry – the incredible women who drove ambulances from the blood soaked Front Line across France and Belgium to nearby hospitals.

The show is based on real accounts accessed from the FANY records and the Imperial War Museum, and takes inspiration from a novel by Robert Radcliffe.

Incredibly not a great deal has ever been said about these women – their lives, the risks they took and how they tended the wounded and dying, but this is now changing and their story is at last being told as it is premiered in the West Midlands as part of the Imperial War Museum’s Centenary Partnership.

This is in part due to the extract performed last year by the company at the Women’s History Network Conference in Worcester, which was attended by delegates from around the world.

The Anonymous is a Woman Theatre Company was originally set up by two London Drama Centre graduates, one of whom – Leila Sykes, had grown up in Malvern, after they felt compelled to engage and tackle the lack of female roles in the industry.

The production of FANY is currently set to tour nine West Midlands venues at present, after opening at the Beirkeller Theatre in Bristol on April 14, although more dates are likely to be added.

The local dates are April 15 – Old Joint Stock, Birmingham; 16 – Netherton Arts Centre, Dudley; 17 – Bantock House, Wolverhampton; 18 – Artrix Studio, Bromsgrove; 21-25 – Coach House Studio, Malvern; 28-29 The Attic, Stratford; May 1 – Palace Theatre Studio, Redditch and 2 – The Hive Studio, Worcester.