Journey's End, the multi award-winning production that won critical acclaim in the West End and on Broadway, is to tour in 2011. This Olivier-nominated, Tony and Drama Desk award winning production of R. C. Sherriff’s masterpiece, is directed by David Grindley. Read more …
The production originally opened at the Comedy Theatre in January 2004 and was an immediate revelation. Taking audiences by surprise with its beautifully understated evocation of war, Journey’s End won unanimous critical acclaim. It transferred to the Playhouse Theatre and then to the Duke of York’s and went on to complete two major tours around the United Kingdom, in 2004 and 2005.
The play is set in the British trenches at St Quentin in 1918, in the days leading up to Operation Michael on March 21st, the last great German Offensive of the First World War, a day that saw the deaths of 38,000 men. A company of officers prepare for a daring raid across No Man’s Land to gather intelligence. Based on the author’s own experience of the Front and life in the trenches, it celebrates humour and courage in the face of certain tragedy, and remains an important reminder of the horrors of war and the real, unromanticised heroes who fought it.
In certain ways the play has dated, particularly in terms of construction and certain dialogue, yet it is an example of excellent dramatic writing that it still manages to inform, entertain and ultimately move a young, modern audience.
Excellent performances and a corkscrew of tension, emotion and drama left not a dry eye in the house.
Atmospheric, tragic, and moving, the end result is a timely reminder of the folly of war.
A grippingly intense production.
David Grindley's flawless touring production captures every nuance of this magnificent text, offering a series of completely gripping performances.
Journey’s End portrays and humanises the otherwise incomprehensibly large numbers of young men who died fighting. It does this without glory or sentimentality, only the harrowing and ‘monstrous anger’ of gunfire.
The characterisations are so familiar that it becomes a timeless piece of theatre that still bears relevance and sadness, and is a stark reminder of the tragedies of war today.
Perhaps the modern audience, hardened by the lives needlessly lost to war and distanced from "the good fight" by time and experience, wants to see the tyrant beheaded and the conflict condemned. R.C. Sherriff's Journey's End does not and will not, as such, seems a bit of a theatrical anachronism.
Classic World War I drama Journey's End set for King's Theatre
Journey's End
King's Theatre, Edinburgh from Tuesday March 15, 2011, until Saturday March 19, 2011. More info: http://www.edtheatres.com/kings
Theatre Royal, Glasgow from Tuesday September 6, 2011, until Saturday September 10, 2011. More info: www.theambassadors.com/theatreroyalglasgow/
His Majesty's Theatre, Aberdeen from Monday September 12, 2011, until Saturday September 17, 2011. More info: www.hmtaberdeen.com
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