Journey's End Play by Sherriff, R. C. ( AUTHOR ) Jan-15-1993 Hardback

Product Information

The play is part of the British GCSE English literature qualification that is studied and tested in secondary schools, specifically the Cambridge IGCSE and Pearson Edexcel IGCSE specifications for English. [24] Awards and nominations [ edit ] Awards

There's tension here, sights and sounds of a terrible war, mixed with moments of friendship, camaraderie and the routines of normal English life. Still, everyone is on edge - some more than others - as they await the inevitable. i would just like to know what happens afterwards. does Stanhope quit drinking and go home? do they all just die?Osborne and Raleigh discuss how slowly time passes at the front, and the fact that both of them played rugby before the war and that Osborne was a schoolmaster before he signed up to fight. While Raleigh appears interested, Osborne points out that it is of little use now. Journey’s End is an extremely claustrophobic play, set in the trenches in March 1918 as the war is drawing to a close. It tells the story of a group of officers and their commander over a course of three days. Apparently R.C Sherriff intended the play to be called ‘Suspense’ or ‘Waiting’ and, I have to say, they both would have been perfect titles for this. In 1930, James Whale directed an eponymous film based on the play, starring Colin Clive, David Manners and Ian Maclaren. [18] One of my favourite play writes, I tend to stay away from WW1 fictional content as I don't believe that something so horrific can be explained through fiction. WW1 fiction is always either one of two things: extremely unrealistic but fun to read or extremely unrealistic to the point where you are debating wether the Great War actually taught people anything. The play premiered at the Apollo Theatre in London on 9th December 1928, starring a very young Laurence Olivier as Captain Stanhope. In 2017, it was adapted into a film starring Sam Claflin in the same role.

Stanhope asks if Osborne will monitor Raleigh’s letters for any bad words said about him. Osborne, who everyone calls “Uncle,” refuses. When Stanhope responds by getting very drunk, Osborne helps him get into bed and sleep it off. Everyone knows that Stanhope should take the vacation time (like Captain Hardy) and recover a bit, but Stanhope insists it’s his duty to remain near the front line. Raleigh, an 18-year-old officer, reports for the first time to Osborne. Raleigh reveals that he wanted to join the company because his sister is engaged to Stanhope. Osborne detects Raleigh's idolization of Stanhope and gently cautions him that life on the front lines has a habit of changing men.

Journey’s End by R.C. Sherriff receives 4/5⭐️ from me! This was the first play I read & I surprisingly really liked it! I loved how this book didn’t over-exaggerate the reality of life in the trenches. I loved how incredibly emotional & realistic this book was. I’m not usually a fan of war books, but this book made me want to start venturing out to read more books with this genre! There were so many themes of death, grief & romance throughout this book! I loved how the author portrayed different people’s responses to war, it was truly an eye-opening book. Reading Journey’s End made me dive into deep reflection about war and life. As much as I loved this book, I’m left with a bittersweet feeling after reading this as I simply can’t imagine how the author could have handled such harsh conditions & depressing incidents in the midst of fighting a war for 4 long years. This play has ultimately made me appreciate the sacrifice & dedication of soldiers, and realise how blessed I am right now to not be living during a war time.

The seemingly mundane conversations between the officers worked perfectly to convey the monotony on the front. There’s one scene where several characters are waiting until they must go over the dugout and into no man’s land, and each minute is excruciatingly counted down. They try to fill the space with small talk, but they can’t; they’re about to go on a suicide mission. It’s one of the tensest scenes I’ve read. Sherriff, R. C. (1929). Journey's End, a Play in Three Acts (Firsted.). New York: Brentano's. OCLC 1490502.The play was adapted for television in 1988, starring Jeremy Northam as Stanhope, Edward Petherbridge as Osborne, and Timothy Spall as Trotter. [20] It held close to the original script although there were changes, the most obvious being the depiction on camera of the raid, which happens off-stage in the theatre production. I have just put down this classic WWI play by R.C. Sherriff, and I swear that for all intents and purposes I'm still in that officers' dug-out in Flanders while the noise and smoke of a concentrated enemy bombardment steadily increase in intensity. And it occurs to me that my intention of writing any sort of review is presumptuous at best. How can I be qualified to comment on life in the trenches, or know for sure what it must have been like to lead a daytime raid into no-man's-land with a stiff upper lip and a tot of rum sloshing around in my fear-shrunken belly and nothing in the world more certain than the knowledge that enemy machine-gun fire is waiting ahead to mow me down? The answer is simple -- I'm not and I can't. The three-act play has themes of courage, innocence, human vanity, and mortality. The captain of this company and the protagonist of the play is named Dennis Stanhope. She doesn't know that if I went up those steps into the front line – without being doped with whisky – I'd go mad with fright.”