In 1917, at the height of the First World War, the poet and soldier Siegfried Sassoon was admitted to Craiglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh, officially for treatment for shell-shock, but in truth because he had published his ‘Soldier’s Declaration’, denouncing the conduct of the war by the British establishment. There he met the severely shell-shocked Wilfred Owen, already making his first tentative steps as a poet. Read more …
By the time Owen was killed in action, a year later, he had written what is now considered to be the finest poetry of the Great War. Stephen MacDonald’s play, which premiered in Edinburgh in 1982 before transferring to London and Broadway, examines how the two poets’ friendship unlocked Owen’s genius.
A profoundly moving play about the nature of friendship, love and the art of war.
Ali Watt and Thomas Cotran deliver fascinating, well-thought-through performances.
The power of words and love between two men is at the core of this play set during World War I.
Central to the production's over-riding intensity are the performances, and, as the poets, both Ali Watt and Thomas Cotran lend Sassoon and Owen an uptight vulnerability and sheer human frailty that clearly fuelled their art.
Ultimately, the piece does splendid justice, both to the men themselves and to their enduringly significant poems.
On Tour, from Thursday October 1, 2015, until Saturday October 24, 2015.
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