BOMB Happy, the play about the D-Day experiences of five York Normandy veterans, has won a prestigious award and rave reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe.

The Summerhall Lustrum Award was presented to Ken Cooke and Ken Smith, two of the veterans who had travelled up to the Scottish capital to see performances of the play.

The award was for a ‘Greatest Festival’ moment, judged by a panel of industry professionals, said Helena Fox, playwright and director of the Everwitch Theatre Company production.

She said receiving the award was a ‘wonderful way’ to end the performances, which were commissioned by York Civic Trust to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of D-Day and funded by The British Army, with additional funding from York’s Two Ridings Community Fund.

At the end of each performance an image of the five veterans, with the words “In memory of Dennis Haydock and George Meredith,” had been projected to remember two of the five veterans who had passed away during the course of the play’s development, while the fifth, Bert Barritt, wasn’t well enough to go to Edinburgh.

Helena said Ed Fringe Review had called the play ‘verbatim theatre at its best,’ Richard Stamp, from Fringe Guru, had selected it for his top 5 Fringe recommendations, describing it as ‘an almost unique piece which transcends theatre’ and Angela Milton, from Edinburgh Guide, had described it as ‘a moving play, this brings alive the reality of warfare through an honest and sensitive portrayal of lived experience.’

She revealed there had been requests for performances as far afield as the Netherlands, and she hoped it could be toured again next year to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe.