Have you an Entrenched view?

Entrenched, devised by Twisting Yarn, the Alhambra's theatre-in-education company, focuses on an aspect of the war that people know little about.

Singer and actress Linda Nolan, who is starring in Blood Brothers at the Alhambra, joined children for Entrenched and said she was moved.

The play is directed by Keith Robinson who said: "Like most people, I thought the war was about us and the French against the Germans - then I discovered that one third of Allied troops in the First World War weren't European.

There were Indian, African, Australian, Caribbean, Canadian and New Zealand troops, and some from tiny countries. And there were Chinese labourers brought in to support troops."

Mr Robinson made the discovery while visiting war graves in northern France.

"Suddenly I spotted Islamic graves and the graves of Chinese labourers. I discovered a cemetery with Indian, African and German graves in. People were buried close to where they died so they must have been together in combat. We think of multi-culturalism as something modern but between 1914-1918 there were people from across the world in northern France."

He added: "We don't know much about this because we haven't been taught about the war in this way. People are still trying to piece together the jigsaw, it's difficult because there aren't any survivors left. We wound what bits of information we found into drama to devise Entrenched."

The play is set in a casualty clearing station in France, run by a Canadian nurse. The patients include an African soldier, a Gurkha and a Tommy' wearing a German jacket.

"We found few real-life stories of people from different nationalities being together because segregation was strict and there was extraordinary racism. The Chinese labourers were treated particularly badly; they were beaten and forced into No Man's Land to collect bodies - often while firing was going on."

The play is touring secondary schools and Mr Robinson said there has been a positive response. Linda Nolan has been at Parkside School in Cullingworth watching Entrenched with pupils.

She said. "I think it's wonderful that Bradford Theatres takes this quality of show into schools to educate future generations and give them such a stimulus."

• Entrenched will be performed at the Alhambra Studio tonight at 7.30pm. Tickets are free but must be booked on (01274) 432000.