CALLING all Dad’s Army fans and history buffs – learn how to navigate life in World War Two Britain as a GI.

The new play, Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain, will be heading to the Lighthouse Theatre, Poole, on July 1 at 8pm.

It promises to be a “deeply silly, eye-opening and joyous” evening of entertainment, inspired by a wartime pamphlet.

Issued in 1942 by the American War Office, Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain aimed to prepare GIs for the strange country that awaited them, and to defuse Nazi propaganda attempts to split the allies apart. They have been described as an 'Ordnance survey map' of Britain's psyche, and since being re-published in 2005 have become a treasured reminder of both the country's finest hour and its strangest eccentricities.

This new comedy lovingly pokes fun at those British eccentricities and the American troops who tried to understand them, and is structured around a training session for newly arrived GIs.

The show's director John Walton said: “I stumbled upon the instructions in Waterstone's a few years ago, and I've been wanting to make a show based on them ever since.

“They're such an endearing and loving snapshot of the country at a unique moment in its history. At the same time, they just seemed perfect for comic exploration.”

Contact the box office for more information.