A play which tells the story of a war-torn East Lancashire family is opening at The Lowry, Salford Quays, from July 14 to 17.

Following research into his family history, award-winning film-maker and writer Justin MacGregor is launching the second in a trilogy of plays based on his family tree.

God Wept and the Devil Laughed is inspired by his grandfather Ron Potter’s life during the Second World War, set between 1939 and 1946 with scenes that revolve around this time of conflict.

Described as a ‘home and away’ play, we see scenes on the family’s farm in the Ribble Valley through to war in North Africa and the gruesome liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Justin, who is also a lecturer at the University of Bolton, comes from a family of thespians— his grandfather Hector MacGregor starred in 1950’s Alfred Hitchcock movie Stage Fright.

And the Manchester-based writer said he felt compelled to write about his family after uncovering their harrowing past.

He added: “Family members started to tell me stories about how my bomber-pilot grandfather Ron Potter was a shot down and killed.

“I couldn’t believe it and as I listened to the stories. I got hooked and started to wonder how many families were also like us. We all have amazing histories.”

Justin’s research took the 46-year-old to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Berlin.

He said: “I was overwhelmed to see when I arrived that I had turned up on the anniversary of my grandfather’s death and I didn’t even know it. It was so sad and the soldiers were all so young.”

London-born Justin has also written his grandmother, Joan Potter, into the play. She waited at home in limbo for 18 months, not knowing that her husband had been killed.

He said: “Back then my grandmother had to wait and that must have been the most traumatic thing ever, not knowing.

“I have incorporated into the production all of these feelings for the families and the fighters at war.”

“But finding out what they went through has made these performances so touching.”

God Wept and the Devil Laughed is the sequel to Justin’s sell-out hit The Play That Killed Me, also set around hate and war.

And after a moving exploration of love and courage, Justin says that he is still researching his family history for future productions.

He said: “I have reached as far as Burnley and Nelson with my family tree and there is still so much to find out.

“My main aim is to portray how the family worked together. There weren’t such thing as post traumatic stress disorder and counsellors for the family. They had to deal with it alone.”

* God Wept and the Devil Laughed, Thursday, July 14 - Sunday, July 17, The Lowry, Salford Quays. Tickets £5 from the box office: 0843 208 6000.