EIGHTY-FIVE years ago, many young people swapped their classrooms for death on a bloody French battlefield.

And today, pupils at a Southampton school are staging their own personal tribute to the victims of war.

Around 30 sixth formers at King Edward VI School have conceived and written a play set in World War One.

Their production, It'll Be Over By Christmas, stems from a summer drama workshop and includes original wartime artefacts.

English teacher Lauren Farnhill, who has co-directed the play, said the pupils specifically wanted to act characters the same age as themselves. She said: "I think they have enjoyed the creativity. There is not a single word in the play that hasn't been written by them, and we were scripting right up to last week."

The story follows a group of raw recruits leaving family behind for the trenches and minefields.

Alex Waddington, 17, who wrote her part as a nurse, said: "Putting it together has been a challenge. It's a major event that happened in this century, not something ancient. It's frightening."

Fellow pupil Joe Parker, 17, who helped in writing and editing, said: "It brought home to us that people of our own age, instead of applying for university and so on, went off to fight in France.''

The play is staged in the Kellett Road school's Dobson theatre tonight, the second of two performances this week.

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