The "Heinemann Plays" series offers contemporary drama and classic plays in durable classroom editions. Sherriff, author of Journey's End, the most famous play of the Great War, saw all his frontline service with the 9th Battalion East Surrey Regiment. It starred Laurence Olivier, then only 21, offered the role of Stanhope by the then equally unknown director James Whale. The first edition of this play novelisation about soldiers in the trenches towards the end of the First World War, in the original scarce dustwrapper. It finally secured a pitiful two-night run at the Apollo in December of 1928, where it had the great good fortune to feature an unknown twenty-one-year-old actor in the lead role – one Laurence Olivier.

Sherriff's good fortune with the phenomenal success of what is essentially a mediocre play depended in large part on the appearance in the intital production of the work - by the Incorporated Stage Society in a two-day run at the Apollo Theatre in December 1928 - of the 21-year old Lawrence Olivier (directed by the equally unknown James Whale).I loved how the author portrayed different people’s responses to war, it was truly an eye-opening book. A radio adaptation by Peter Watts was produced for BBC Radio 4's Saturday Night Theatre in November 1970, featuring Martin Jarvis as Captain Stanhope. I am too upset to properly articulate my feelings about this, except that I had to lie down and weep for a little while, and I would die for Stanhope.

Throughout the play, Sherriff slowly builds the suspense as attack threatens, and as he does so he explores his superbly developed characters and introduces a tone of dread but one with moments of dark humour and then small disputes between officers. A newspaper photograph of Derek Williams and Colin Keith-Johnston, two of the actors, is laid in on the copyright page (leaving a ghost on the character list page). It may have been the actor but it just didn't work for me, and I couldn't see how anyone could pull it off. The character of Stanhope is both tragic and complex; he embodies an individual who has been set up to meet such high expectations, but when he can no longer do so it eats away at him causing him to rely heavily on alcohol. The piece quickly became internationally popular, with numerous productions and tours in English and other languages.By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions. It has a great cast which includes Malcolm McDowell, Christopher Plummer, Peter Firth and Simon Ward. Exemplaire No XIII" -- "It has been drawn from this work, before printing of regular edition, 200 copies numbered from 1 to 200 on pure vellum over lafuma, constituting the original edition.

Men hanging around, talking, playing cards, eating rations and being happy when they got some chicken. Other plays of the period dealing with the war tended to be judged by the standard of Journey's End. The scenes between the men were extremely subtle and really drove home the complete and utter futility of it all. I thought the characters were tremendously well developed, and I was made to feel their anguish and fear.During the Second World War, productions were staged by members of the Royal Natal Carbineers at El Khatatba, Egypt (January 1944); and by British prisoners in Changi Prison, Singapore (February 1943); at Tamarkan, Thailand, a Japanese labour camp on the Burma Railway (July 1943); in Stalag 344, near Lamsdorf, Germany (July 1944); and in Campo P. Edinburgh Gateway Company (1965), The Twelve Seasons of the Edinburgh Gateway Company, 1953 - 1965, St. It’s a stunning and deeply moving evocation of the sacrifices made by so many young people during the conflict of 1914-1918 and well worth the hour or two it takes to read.