A MOVING play about the real-life execution of a Bolton soldier is set to be performed only miles from the scene of the atrocity. Harwood writer Les Smith's powerful production Early One Morning tells how World War One soldier Jim Smith was shot at dawn in 1917 for desertion and cowardice. The execution came following an unfair court martial and despite both terrible shellshock that the young soldier was suffering and an earlier honour for bravery.

The play was given its world premiere at the Octagon last October and is now set to be performed in the Flemish town of Ypres, just miles from where Pte Smith was killed.

Yesterday, Les Smith told of his pride at learning his work is to be performed in two separate runs in Ypres, Flanders.

The production will be staged first in March and the second run in June will coincide with an international conference of academics who have studied soldiers' stories.

The award-winning writer, who works at the Bolton Institute, said: "It's fantastic news. I'm so pleased that the play is to be put on at the place where this tragic event took place.

"A shiver went down my spine when I thought about it. It will be performed in Ypres which is within two miles of where the British soldier was executed."

The work will be translated into Flemish for the special productions and Mr Smith, 51, says he plans to travel to Ypres for the performances.

Last year, he visited the area as he wrote and researched the play. He also visited the grave of Pte Smith.

The continental productions come after Piet Chielens, curator of the In Flanders Fields museum in Ypres and who is involved in research into the soldiers shot at dawn, heard of the new play.

Yesterday, relatives of the dead soldier welcomed news of the play's Ypres runs.

Jack Hargreaves, whose mother was Pte Smith's first cousin, said: "It will give the play even more impact because it will be performed only a few miles from where everything took place and where he is buried. I certainly look forward to hearing people's reactions to the play."

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