The Machine Gunners is set during the Second World War and deals with a group of children living in the North East of England in a town called Garmouth regularly suffering from bomb attacks by the German forces.
One of the children raids a German aircraft that has crash-landed in the area and steals a fully operational machine gun, intending to set up their own fortress. In time, the gang also befriend a German pilot who is shot down.
The story explores the impact on the community of living under war conditions, and importantly probes the deep effects on the children of that community. Their play reflects the terrors, paranoias and anxieties which were part of 1940s Britain.