THE world premiere of a new play inspired by real events of the First World War will be staged at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre over the Christmas period.

The Christmas Truce, written by Phil Porter, draws on a specific event that occurred in the trenches during the war exactly 100 years ago.

It will reveal the story of Warwickshire Regiment soldier and famous local cartoonist, Captain Bruce Bairnsfather, who worked at the original Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, in Stratford-upon-Avon, as an electrical engineer.

Porter’s work was inspired by the incredible true Christmas story from 1914, when soldiers along the Western Front left their trenches on Christmas Eve to meet their enemies in No Man’s Land to talk, exchange gifts and play football.

His previous work at the RSC includes Here Lies Mary Spindler and editing The Tempest, Pericles and with Sean Foley A Mad World My Masters, which begins a UK tour with English Touring Theatre in 2015.

In the play Bruce Bairnsfather’s role will be taken by Joseph Kloska, who is returning to the RSC having last been with the company in Measure for Measure and Gregory Doran’s Written on the Heart. Bairnsfather’s most iconic cartoon character, Old Bill, is brought to life in the play and will be played by Gerard Horan.

Directing what has been described will be an uplifting occasion for families will be the RSC’s deputy artistic director, Erica Whyman.

This will be her RST directorial debut having recently directed plays by Timberlake Wertenbaker and Alice Birch as part of the RSC’s Midsummer Mischief festival in The Other Place. She was chief executive of Northern Stage from 2005 to 2012 and her productions whilst there included Oh What a Lovely War, which was nominated for two TMA awards.

The Christmas Truce, which will be the RST’s festive, opens on November 29 and runs through to January 31, 2015.

Alongside The Christmas Truce there will be a free exhibition exploring the life and work of Capt Bairnsfather, who became world-famous during the First World War for his cartoons depicting life on the frontline.

Published weekly in ‘The Bystander’ magazine his cartoons caught the imagination of the soldiers at war, and their families back home. He became a household name and published volumes of his cartoons selling over a million copies.

This free exhibition will explore his fascinating life and work as well as the artist’s interesting personal connections to Stratford-upon-Avon and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Curated by the Royal Shakespeare Company in collaboration with Mark Warby, a leading Bruce Bairnsfather collector and writer, the exhibition opens on October 10.