National Theatre Wales recreates the horrors of the Battle of Mametz Wood

After five days of fighting 4000 troops were dead or injured

The sound of World War One gunfire will be echoing over fields in Monmouthshire as The National Theatre of Wales re-enact one the most tragic events for Wales during that conflict.

Four thousand Welsh soldiers were killed or injured as they tried to capture Mametz Wood in France during the Battle of the Somme.

The new play based on what happened at that time,then takes place in the open air on farmland at Usk.

Jane Solomons went to see rehearsals.

A memorial at the site of the battle near Piccardy in France is to be restored with help from the Welsh Government

The existing memorial near the site of the battle