THE 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War is being marked this year by many major events around the country involving the Armed Forces and it’s also being celebrated in the world of theatre with a number of war-time plays.

One of these shows is The Wipers Times and following sold-out UK tours in 2016 and 2017, and a critically acclaimed hit run at the Arts Theatre in the West End in 2017, the show will once again tour the UK this Autumn, including a stop at Malvern’s Festival Theatre from September 17-22.

Ian Hislop and Nick Newman’s The Wipers Times - a stage adaptation of their award-winning BBC film - tells the true and extraordinary story of the satirical newspaper created in the mud and mayhem of the Somme, interspersed with comic sketches and spoofs from the vivid imagination of those on the front line.

The co-writers say: “The Wipers Times is on manoeuvres again around Britain. We look forward to sharing the remarkable trench humour of the Wipers Times with new theatre-goers around the country.

"We are delighted it is not Journey’s End but the tour will all be over by Christmas." 

In a bombed out building during the First World War in the Belgian town of Ypres (commonly mispronounced Wipers by British soldiers), two officers discover a printing press and create a newspaper for the troops.

Far from being a sombre journal about life in the trenches they managed to produce a resolutely cheerful, subversive and very funny newspaper designed to lift the spirits of the men on the frontline.

Defying enemy bombardment, gas attacks and the disapproval of many of the top Brass, The Wipers Times rolled off the press for two years and was an extraordinary tribute to the resilience of the human spirit in the face of overwhelming adversity.

The production originally launched one hundred years after the Battle of the Somme and publication of The Wipers Times, and of course this current run coincides with the commemoration of the end of WW1.

Tickets are on sale at the Box Office 01684 892277 and online at malvern-theatres.co.uk.