MICK MARTIN is no stranger to unearthing the people’s history of war. The Bradford-based playwright created England, Arise!, a play about the Huddersfield socialist conscientious objectors to mark the centenary of the outbreak of WWI and, during the play’s run, he was approached by  University of Leeds Professor Ingrid Sharp, who has an interest in bringing the German anti-war movement to wider attention.

What followed was a period of research to uncover untold stories and Martin and Bent Architect co-founder Jude Wright went to Berlin where they drew complete blanks. People didn’t want to talk about the first world war — “Why are you bothered about that?” — was a response.

Undaunted, they later came across the memoirs and transcripts of prominent socialist activists Gertrud Voelcker and Martha Riedl, both of whom had been actively involved in the Kiel mutiny of 1918 which sparked the German revolution.

Their narratives have provided the focus for the play Women of Aktion and its premise that women played a huge part in ending the first world war that has been completely airbrushed out of history.

Yet it wasn’t until Martin realised that left-wing playwright Ernst Toller had written the play Draw The Fires, which tells the story of the Kiel uprising that brought the first world war to it knees, that it took shape.

It’s an unconventional theatre piece — a play within a play within a play — which places verbatim dialogue within an imagined scenario which reveals a new and  hitherto barely considered truth about a global war which was brought to an end when ordinary people rejected conflict in favour of peace.

The all-female cast play multiple roles but, in a play that tells the unspoken history of women through their voices, there’s likely to be criticism of it being scripted by a man, a concern that Martin was aware of from the start.

“I did think: ‘Should’t it be a woman writing this play’.” he says. “But Ingrid and Jude were both of the view that men should be involved and should be playing a part. We don’t want a situation where it is always women talking about women.

“Both read the drafts and had editorial input, at one point objecting to a scene in which one character got her political views from her brother-in-law. Ingrid said: ‘That’s the kind of thing that really annoys me because the notion is always that the woman is taken along by the boyfriend or the husband and gets her views from his’.”

Martin welcomed that constructive feedback and the opportunity to see things from a different angle which questions the male, patriarchal perspective.

The traditional view of the war is also challenged by the play’s educational outreach work in a touring exhibition on which Wright collaborated with Clive Barrett from Bradford’s Peace Museum, with Sharp involved in pre-show talks.

These will not only question preconceived opinions but help to address lessons to be learned. As Martin stresses: “Giving women a stronger voice changes the dynamic” of any debate locally and nationally.

Women of Aktion is touring until November 17, details: bentarchitect.co.uk.