Journey’s End

Published Tuesday 1 June 2004 at 11:20 by Peter Hepple

It says much for the strength of David Grindley’s production that I remained riveted, as did all the audience, throughout Journey’s End, despite the fact that it is only four months since I last saw it.

Moreover, RC Sherriff’s play, though sometimes derided for its outmoded attitudes and speech patterns in its previous post-World War II revivals, proves that it is not only a masterpiece in its own right but is an absolute model of play construction. Apart from the fact that not a word is wasted, observe the way in which Sherriff sets his first scene, introducing all the main characters in their absence, and calmly builds up to the climax without destroying any of the shock when it finally arrives. It is Grindley to whom we owe the incredibly moving curtain call, the most stunning within living memory.

The transfer from the Comedy has brought in several new faces, most of them previously unknown and with surprisingly little experience. David Sturzaker is a superb Stanhope, only 21 but one of the most experienced company commanders in the front line, and Toby Kebbell is the 18-year-old new boy, fresh out of the same school that Stanhope attended and still full of hero worship.

Praise too for the other younger replacements, Ifan Meredith’s Hibbert, the coward with whom we can reluctantly sympathise, and Pearce Quigley as the stoic cook. Bringing experience and wonderful understanding to the role of the fatherly Osborne is Philip Franks and Paul Bradley continues his warm and amusing study of the ex-ranker Trotter.