This is the most popular anti-war play to appear after World War I. It was first produced professionally by Maurice Browne and starred a young Lawrence Olivier as Captain Stanhope. It still works well as a stirring piece of theatre whenever it is revived by professional or amateur companies. The play enjoyed a recent popular revival, and subsequent tour, at the Comedy Theatre starring David Haig, Paul Bradley and Geoffrey Streatfield.

The tension between the then acceptable public school ethos and the grinding horror of trench warfare at its worst produces one of the strongest plays ever written. The drama of the stifling social conventions of the day, the personal relationships between the men and the powerful portrayal of the officers’ shattered nerves is played out against the larger tragedy raging around them. The play succeeds by convincing portrayals of very real characters and by the evocation of the atmosphere of the trench warfare and of the men’s repressed emotions of fear, anger, guilt and courage in the face of impending doom.

Second Lieutenant Raleigh – the new officer assigned to ‘C’ Company – is welcomed by everyone except Captain Stanhope, who later reveals that he knew Raleigh at school and is engaged to his sister. Stanhope fears that Raleigh will communicate with his sister and she will learn that “if I went up those steps without being doped with whisky I’d go mad with fright”.

The play is not without humour, mainly coming from the earthiness of those in the lower ranks and their concern with home and food.