Journey's End (Penguin Modern Classics)

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The actors were humbled. It gave them an incredible insight. Coming face-to-face with guys who’ve genuinely been on the frontline and put their lives at risk was a very sobering moment. During dinner, Trotter decides to make a chart representing the remaining hours until he and his fellow officers can leave the trenches. On a paper he draws 144 circles, intending to fill them in as the hours pass. By the end of dinner, only Stanhope and Osborne remain in the dugout, and Stanhope is exceedingly drunk. He admits that he’s afraid Raleigh will write to his sister—who’s waiting for Stanhope to return—and tell her about his drinking. Stanhope declares that he’s going to censor Raleigh’s letters, and Osborne puts his drunken friend to bed.

The play is the basis for the film Aces High (1976), although the action was switched from the infantry to the Royal Flying Corps. This is a WWI classic play that was not going anywhere, simply because it had no female part. Finally when actor Laurence Olivier took the lead, the play became popular. Originally Robert Sherriff had no literary ambitions, and JOURNEY'S END was written to be used by a group of amateurs who were interested in dramatics. At that time Sherriff was an insurance claims adjuster. The play grew out of letters Sherriff had written to his family during World War I, when he served as an officers in the British Army. On a chance suggestion, JOURNEY'S END was sent to George Bernard Shaw, who helped to get the play produced. It was an immense success; at one time there were nine companies playing it in the United States and England. The play made the author famous, and he became a professional writer. Although he has written other plays and novels, none has been as successful as JOURNEY'S END. The Story: IWM holds a vast archive of unique documents dating from 1914 to the present day. Among the archives that we hold is the original manuscripts of the play, Journey's End by R.C. Sheriff. Journey's End was based on Sheriff's own experiences as an army officer in the First World War. The story plays out over four days, the 18th to the 21st of March 1918, the start of the German Spring Offensive. When Hardy leaves, Osborne sits down to a dinner made by Mason, the officers’ cook. At this point, Raleigh, the new officer, enters. As Osborne and Raleigh talk, Raleigh reveals that he knows Stanhope from before the war. He and Stanhope went to the same high school, and Stanhope was a respected rugby captain whose father was friends with Raleigh’s father. The boys spent summers together, and Stanhope started dating Raleigh’s sister. When Stanhope went off to war, Raleigh thought constantly of him as brave captain. When Raleigh enlisted, he even ­­asked a relative to help him get assigned to Stanhope’s infantry. Hearing this, Osborne realizes he should warn Raleigh that Stanhope has changed. Next the two men talk about Raleigh’s journey through the trenches to the front lines, which he says was an unnervingly quiet experience. Osborne confirms that it is “often quiet” there, despite it being one of the most dangerous places to be stationed. Osborne says they are just “waiting for something” to happen.In 1930, James Whale directed an eponymous film based on the play, starring Colin Clive, David Manners and Ian Maclaren. [18] She doesn't know that if I went up those steps into the front line—without being doped up with whiskey—I'd go mad with fright." Stanhope, Act I, p. 31 Sherriff read history at New College, Oxford, from 1931 to 1934. [10] [11] He was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Society of Antiquaries of London. [12] Career [ edit ] Playwright [ edit ] Second Lieutenant James "Jimmy" Raleigh is a young and naive officer who joins the company. Raleigh knew Stanhope from school, where Stanhope was skipper at rugby; Raleigh refers to Stanhope as Dennis. He also has a sister whom Stanhope is dating. 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

R.C. Sherriff wrote the play based on his own experiences, and appears to have no particular axe to grind - neither anti-war, nor patriotic - with its primary focus on the toll placed on the young officers and the working class soldiers thrown into such a horrific situation.During the Second World War, productions were staged by members of the Royal Natal Carbineers at El Khatatba, Egypt (January 1944); and by British prisoners in Changi Prison, Singapore (February 1943); at Tamarkan, Thailand, a Japanese labour camp on the Burma Railway (July 1943); in Stalag 344, near Lamsdorf, Germany (July 1944); and in Campo P.G. 75, near Bari, Italy. [14] Every now and then I want to read a play; as for this one, I don't know how I 'found it.' It was recently made into a movie, but I hadn't watched it, or known of its existence. I might have discovered it here on Goodreads...