Like a lot of men at the time, Lisle Turner's grandfather said very little about his experiences service in the North Africa campaign during WWII. But when Lisle was an older teenager and spending summers in Northumberland and that changed.

"The stories started pouring out," says Claire Coache, who with her partner Lisle, forms Open Sky Productions, "and though they didn't know it, that was dementia kicking in."

Now Lisle and Claire have created a powerful piece of drama inspired by Jack's experiences.

"The stories had stayed with Lisle and he had been wanting to do something with it for a long time," says Claire. "We thought about a film, but that would have involved going to the desert, and then we thought that we could do it really well on stage.

Meanwhile, I have been working for The Courtyard as a drama practitioner with their ageing programme, and had the enormous privilege of going into care homes throughout Herefordshire, so I was coming at the concept from that perspective, while Lisle did a lot of research talking to other veterans.

Scorched, the resulting show, is set in a care home, where Jack, 50 years after his return from Egypt, reigns from his armchair, a local legend. Memories are tattooed, by his own hand, on his body, but dementia is eroding his mind. As the Gulf War rages, the past drags him back to the scorched sands.

"By the end," Claire reveals, "there is sand everywhere."

Playing the part of Jack is Robin Berry. "He's brilliant. It's the third show we've done with him, having originally auditioned him for From Newbury with Love, and we have a brilliant working relationship. He's an amazing actor and a great deviser.

"Lisle and I have made a number of shows together now and we know how that works, but it's a long process.

"It starts with Lisle writing the stories and creating the structure, and then I come into the space with the actor or actors and do a lot of improvisation, playing with the set and materials (sand in this case), and that's how we come up with the very richly imaged-based piece of work, which Lisle then goes back into to refine all the dialogue and check that the through-line is working..

"It's a labour-intensive way of working but we find it generates a much more interesting piece to look at."

The piece was previewed at last year's Remember Me event at The Courtyard, and when we found the three of us had space we spoke to them and they were very interested and supported us through their Creative Ageing Programme.

"We spend a couple of weeks playing around with some of the ideas and a did a presentation which was warmly received and then went back into the rehearsal space before taking it straight to Edinburgh, where, after a slow-burning start, it began to get 'really good press' including 'an amazing review in The Times. As well as reviews, Open Sky picked up a producer, Turtle Key Arts: "They've been amazing for us. Helping with the Arts Council application and now managing the current tour.

Having done further work on the piece for the funding application, says Claire "It feels like the piece of work we wanted to make. We are really, really pleased with it."

Scorched will be at The Courtyard tomorrow, Friday, May 26 at 8pm. To book, call the box office on 01432 340555 or visit courtyard.org.uk