The life of Walter Tull, a forgotten tale of the First World War, brought to the forefront in Michael Morpurgo's 'Walter Tull's Scrapbook, will now be staged in theatres as a play.

Michael Morpurgo has a history of creating quite an impression with this literary works. Previously, his novel "War Horse" enjoyed immense success that it inspired the National Theatre and then Steven Spielberg to make a movie of it. Now, his book "Walter Tull's Scrapbook" has garnered similar attractions. The novel will now be made into a play, staged at Bolton's Octagon Theatre.

"I was inspired by Walter Tull's courage, from his childhood in an orphanage, to being abused from the terraces, and then his eagerness to join up and do his bit, his courage under fire and his heroic death in France," Morpurgo has explained. He wrote his novel about prejudice and secrets, dedicated to Tull's memory, with the explicit hope it would encourage the authorities to mark the soldier's life with a medal, or a statue in the capital. "I simply felt more people should know about this remarkable man, that they would be as inspired by him as I was," said Morpurgo.

Director David Thacker said that he had already done quite a bit of research on Tull's life while working on a film script with biographer Phil Vasili. "We even had lead roles cast, but it was very hard to get interest. Now the current struggle against racism in football means the relevance of his life is even clearer."

Through their research, they found that he shared a house with a young white landlady in the town of Rushden, Northamptonshire.

"We couldn't find out much about Annie Williams, his landlady, and we would love to know more," said Thacker, who recently returned to his theatrical roots as artistic director of the Octagon. "We realized they would both have been quite radical to live like this, so we have filled out the character of Annie in the play and have made her a suffragette."

The play which will be staged for the first time February 21will use no props, no scenery and no costumes. "It will be entirely down to the skill of the eight actors we have cast," said Thacker, who has collaborated with movement director Lesley Hutchison as well as Vasili to create the show. "They are going to metamorphose between being little children, footballers, old people and men and women."