THE world premiere of a play celebrating the spitfire and Southampton will launch the city’s brand new theatre early next year.

Nuffield Southampton Theatres City venue, part of the ambitious new Studio 144 arts space in Guildhall Square, will play host to The Shadow Factory by Howard Brenton, an award-winning Hampshire playwright.

Nuffield director Samuel Hodges has announced that the inaugural production will open on February 15 with previews from February 7, and will run until March 3.

It’s autumn 1940. The Battle of Britain rages in the skies. Southampton is home to our only hope of victory: the Spitfire. But when the Luftwaffe drops 2,300 bombs in three devastating raids, the city goes up in flames and the Woolston Supermarine Spitfire factory is destroyed. From the ashes, a story of chaos, courage and community spirit emerges.

Samuel Hodges told the Daily Echo: “I first heard about this story months after starting this job and was immediately struck by its significance. Not just for what it says about Southampton’s past, but as an example of what the future can be.

“This story is both epic in its power and impact, but also incredibly human – it’s about individuals coming together, overcoming personal bias and mistrust, to achieve something great on their own terms.

Howard Brenton added: “The creation of the shadow factories is an inspiring story from a frightening time, something for Southampton to celebrate.

People responded to dire straits with a mixture of courage, bloody-mindedness, anger and humour. They made sacrifices, improvised – and six weeks after the big factory’s destruction Spitfires were being made in small places all over the town.

“I’ve written characters across the generations, with scenes in government bunkers, the town and partying on the Common as bombs fall. It was an extraordinary display of common determination.”

Alongside the production, the company will mount The Shadow Factory Exhibition, giving audiences the opportunity to step into the stories behind The Shadow Factory in an installation featuring the visually stunning moving set.

NST City is part of Studio 144, Southampton’s new £28M city centre arts venue, which will include a flexible 450 seat main house theatre and a 135 seat studio. It will bring together theatre, visual art and film from two world-class arts organisations – Nuffield Southampton Theatres and John Hansard Gallery, part of the University of Southampton – into the heart of the city centre for the first time, together with media and film specialists City Eye.