JOURNEY'S END
by R C Sherriff
Director: Ed Smith
Producers: Tatie Hambro, Francesca Knight and Clare Porritt
Fundraiser: Jack Fillery
Lighting: Tanya Stephenson
Stanhope: George Chilcott
Osborne: Jimmy Walters
Trotter: Ashley Harvey
Hibbert: Tom Holloway
Raleigh: Jamie Laing
The Colonel: Tom Gill
The Company Sergeant‐Major: Ekow Quartley
Mason: Chris Quaile
Hardy: Andy Jordan
German Soldier: Nick Balmforth
Runner: Alex Clark
Private Soldier: Conor Whelan
The Dugout
Why do you lie with your legs ungainly huddled,
And one arm bent across your sullen, cold,
Exhausted face? It hurts my heart to watch you,
Deep‐shadow’d from the candle’s guttering gold;
And you wonder why I shake you by the shoulder;
Drowsy, you mumble and sigh and turn your head…
You are too young to fall asleep forever;
And when you sleep you remind me of the dead.
Siegfried Sassoon
Set during the First World War, Journey’s End concerns the lives of a group of British officers serving on the front line in a trench dug‐out in France. Raleigh, a new eighteen‐year‐old officer fresh out of English public school, joins the besieged company of his friend and hero Stanhope, but finds him dramatically changed…
Written in 1928 by RC Sherriff, who himself served in the trenches as a Captain in the East Surrey Regiment from 1915‐1918, the play provides us with a unique snapshot into a period of history whose first‐hand witnesses are fast dying out. With the 90th Anniversary of the Armistice having taken place last year it is important that we commend the suffering and hardships that this ill‐fated generation experienced. However, whilst we are fortunate to be living in an age without conscription or World War, British soldiers are still patrolling and dying in far‐flung deserts. Journey’s End reminds us of War’s ongoing sacrifices; sacrifices that we must never stop questioning and never forget.
