A PERFORMANCE to pay tribute all who served in the First World War is being put on in Penarth.

Penarth Operatic and Dramatic Society (PODS) chairwoman Mary Gardner is calling on the community to support their upcoming tribute performance of Last Man Standing to commemorate the hundreds of thousands of people who fought and died during the war as 2018 marks the last year of the centenary of the conflict.

The company has decided that it wishes to acknowledge this centenary with its latest World War 1 drama production.

At the heart of Last Man Standing are timeless issues involving friendship, courage, cowardice, love and hate. The play sees Edmund, the squire’s son, and Tom, a worker on the squire’s estate leave behind the same village girl they both love to go to war, and in the hell-hole of the trenches their rivalry grows into obsessional hatred. A single moment of choice on the battlefield leads to disastrous consequences for both men.

Ms Gardner said: "PODS has been in existence since 1924 and it is proud of the fact that over those many decades it has given much pleasure and first-class entertainment to the local community.

"Everyone involved in the production is excited and full of enthusiasm for this very different play which has the potential to touch the hearts of an audience with its war theme and the devastation it has on the lives of ordinary people."

Ms Gardner, has had many principal roles in PODS productions for nearly 50 years and who is also the play’s director, says that she is delighted to be working with such a talented cast, especially as it includes a group of young men from Penarth, two of whom go to local comprehensives.

She says that she is in touch with Jude Cole, the play’s author and that Last Man Standing is a project close to the playwright’s heart, derived from teaching the literature of the Great War to GCSE and A level students over the years.

This PODS production is just one of a number of other events which the Penarth Town Council has planned for this final Centenary year.

Ms Gardner hopes that her call to the community will be heard and guarantees a moving theatrical performance.

Last Man Standing is on at the Paget Rooms between Wednesday, February 28 and Saturday, March 3 with curtain-up at 7.30 p.m.

Tickets for Last Man Stranding can be bought online at pods-penarth.org, from Griffin Books on Windsor Road or by ringing PODS ticket secretary on 02920712260.