‘At The Going Down of the Sun’ is a play especially written for Radstock Museum, which commemorates the centenary of the end of WWI and will be performed at the museum from 8th – 11th November.

In an unprecedented move, the Museum Trustees have taken the decision to close the museum from 5 p.m. on Saturday, 3rd November until 2 p.m. on Tuesday, 13th November to stage this unique production in order to accommodate the sets, lighting rigs and changing facilities for the cast.

The play has been written and directed by young, local, talented playwright and actor, Patrick Withey, and will be performed by his theatre company, Black Hound Productions, with atmospheric lighting and special effects.

Patrick explains: “It is easy to assume that after 11th November 1918, everyone left the battlefields and returned home to a normal life.

However, this was not the case. For many soldiers, four years of trauma and bloodshed meant that returning home did not end their suffering.

“Injured soldiers were stared at; some found it impossible to shake off the effects of a new style of warfare on their mental state, and many sadly found this too much to bear.

“‘At The Going Down Of The Sun’ focuses on a fictional family business in Somerset, as they live through the years during and after the First World War.”

Patrick has always had an interest in local history; spending a lot of time at Radstock Museum as a child. He also has a passion for WWI history and has combined both this passion and his love of the museum by producing this dramatic, thought-provoking play which promises to be a moving tribute to our local heroes. Written after a research trip to Ypres, Belgium, it depicts the stories of families after coming home from the War.

Performances will take place on Thursday, 8th November, Friday 9th and Saturday, 10th at 7.30 p.m. with a Saturday matinee at 2.30 p.m. and Sunday, 11th,

4 p.m., after the Remembrance service at the Radstock Cenotaph. The museum is open for an hour before and after every performance to give the audience a chance to look around the ground floor of the museum, complete with Victorian street, miner’s cottage, blacksmiths forge and coal mine.

There will also be an exhibition about the play and some WWI artefacts, plus a bar selling wine, beer, soft and hot drinks.

Tickets are from the museum admissions desk or online with Eventbrite – click through from: www.radstockmuseum.co.uk

Lucy Tudor