In a Lincolnshire village a devoted and frolicsome young couple are preparing to say their farewells as the First World War breaks out.

Charles, an ex-soldier, strives to lay his wife’s fears to rest as he answers the call of king and country.

But worried Dora has a surprise for him. It seems that when he returns home after trouncing the Hun – the only thinkable outcome – there will be a new, albeit very small family member to welcome him.

For Charles Kirman and his loved ones, happiness will now drop away like sand in an egg timer.

Flash forward to 2005 and we meet a new group of Fulstow residents debating the pros and cons of a war memorial for the village - one that includes the name of Private Charles Kirman, of the Lincolnshire Regiment, who was shot at dawn in September 1917 after going absent without leave.

The true story of the Fulstow boys, those citizens of a tiny community who made the ultimate sacrifice, is told in this new play by Teessider Gordon Steel whose past successes include Dead Fish, an Edinburgh ‘Fringe First’ winner, and Like A Virgin which gave Jill Halfpenny her professional acting debut.

Following Grow Up Grandad, this is the second production from his own Steelworks Theatre Company and it, too, is to tour after its ARC premiere.

Also directed by Steel, The Fulstow Boys boasts an excellent and versatile cast.

Joshua Hayes and the winsomely expressive Katy Federman tug at the heartstrings as the tragic young couple while also appearing in other 21st Century roles.

Dave Nellist, Simeon Truby and rising star Ash Matthews likewise have a foot in both time periods.

But the action, flashing back and forth, spins on the character of Nicola Pike whose dogged determination to see justice done brought the world’s news media to Fulstow in 2005.

She is played by Laura Mould whose career, taking in Hull Truck Theatre Company and Coronation Street, was unlikely to get her typecast as a shrinking violet.

She is the opposite of that here and necessarily so. In driving forward her plan, she must win over a committee who, to put it mildly, are less dedicated to the cause.

Graham (Truby) is troubled by his bowels, Maurice (Nellist) just wants to sing and Moira (Federman again) is in a huff over chocolate cake – and in any case doesn’t think a coward’s name should besmirch a memorial for heroes.

That, we learn, was the official attitude after the First World War. Like every other grieving community, Fulstow was offered a memorial – but the families of the village’s lost sons turned it down when they realised Charles’s name could not appear.

Combining a heartrending subject with irreverent humour and a liberal sprinkling of toilet jokes, The Fulstow Boys ventures into what some might consider theatrical No Man’s Land.

But while it’s hard to believe the matter didn’t merit more respectful consideration in real life, albeit nearly a century on, the audience’s standing ovation tells of a play that hits the spot.

Gordon Steel’s account of the Fulstow memorial, inspired initially by a song by Vin Garbutt, by no means sacrifices gravity for laughs.

It recalls in moving fashion the anguish wrought by shellshock, dismissed as cowardice during 1914-18, and the importance of commemoration.

It also highlights the admirable solidarity of one group of grieving families who knew the truth – that Charles Kirman, veteran of Mons and the Somme, was no coward.

The year after the Fulstow memorial was unveiled with due ceremony, and related here as a parting shot, the Government officially pardoned all 306 young men who were shot at dawn.

The Fulstow Boys, produced by ARC in association with the Customs House, South Shields, runs at the Stockton venue until September 15. Tickets: www.arconline.co.uk or tel. 01642 525199.

It then tours to Hull Truck Theatre (September 17-19), Pomegranate, Chesterfield (Sept 20), Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal (Sept 22) and the Customs House, South Shields (Sept 24-29 – www.customshouse.co.uk; 0191 4541234)

David Whetstone