BRIDPORT Arts Centre is bringing three theatre shows and two spoken word events to the Marlowe Theatre stage, each dealing with issues surrounding war.

From a celebration of Benjamin Britten’s ‘The War Requiem’ to Casualty star Catherine Shipton in Soliders’ Wives; each performance will be thought provoking and moving.

Additionally the Arts Centre is pleased to be able to offer a range of concessions and offers for ex and serving members of the armed forces and their families.

Programe manager Margie Barbour said: “War and its impact on soldiers, their families and civilians caught up in the maelstrom of armed conflict are powerful themes that will have great relevance next year.

“Bridport Arts Centre is bringing a selection of plays and writings looking at war to prepare us for the deluge of commemorative events that will take place in 2014 for the centenary of the start of the First World War and will help us see these terrible events with a contemporary perspective.”

The season starts with GI Joe in Dorset on Friday, September 20, 7.30pm.

The theatre show focuses on the lives of the African American GIs who arrived in Dorset before the D Day landings in 1944.

It’s a story of war, prejudice and redemptive love that draws on documented stories to reveal secrets, lies, laughter and hope. Tickets are priced £8 for adults, £7 concessions, £3 for people receiving benefits or ex/serving members of the armed forces and their families.

Catherine Shipton, best known for playing Duffy in Casualty will take to the stage on Saturday 5 October, 7.30pm with Soldiers’ Wives.

Set in the present day it tells the story of five wives living on an army base somewhere in England.

It explores the risks of active service for the men on the frontline and the women who choose to support them.

Tickets are priced £12 adults, £10 members, £8 concessions. Bridport Arts Centre is pleased to be able to offer all servicemen and their families tickets for £6.

Every Mother’s Son, Friday 11 October, 7.30pm, looks at war through the eyes of a family whose son is going to serve in the armed forces.

It’s a play that starts in the leafy lanes of Devon and ends up in the dusty dirt roads of Afghanistan.

It embraces the frictions and fun of family life familiar to us all but made all the more intense when lives are on the line. Tickets are priced £8 Adult and £6 members, concessions and members of the armed forces.

Poems of War, Monday, November 11, at 11am, will be a commemoration of Armistice Day with readings of a selection of poems, mainly written by soliders serving in the first and second world wars. Expect idealism, graphic descriptions of the horrors of war, black humour and sly eroticism. Tickets are priced £5 adult and £4 concessions, all proceeds will go to Help for Heroes.

Finally the Arts Centre will stage Benjamin Britten’s Centenary Celebration on Sunday, November 24 at 2pm.

Anthony Pither and John Barholomew will come together to talk about ‘The War Requiem’. The musical piece was not meant to be a pro-British piece or a glorification of British soldiers, but a public statement of Britten’s anti-war convictions.

For further information call Bridport Arts Centre’s box office on 01308 424204 or visit www.bridport-arts.com.