Wednesday 30 March 2011

Journey's End: Theatre Review


New for TV and Film Chat... a little bit of theatre chat. With thanks to David Bradbury for the press tickets.
Fresh from the West End, this tale of a company of soldiers living in the WWI trenches is a moving production which has received high critical acclaim.
Olivier nominated and winner of Tony and Drama Desk awards, Journey's End follows the young soldier Raleigh, freshly recruited to the British trenches at St Quentin.
His enthusiasm escalates when he realises that the Captain of his company, Stanhope, is an old school friend whom he idolized.
However, Stanhope has been serving in the trenches for a year, longer than any one else in the company, and he is a broken man.
Addicted to whiskey to numb his relentlessly brutal reality, Stanhope is furious at the arrival of Raleigh who's sister he courted.
Raleigh is respectful and well meaning, which immediately demands audience empathy. As a result there are some heartbreaking moments as he comes to experience the trauma of fighting in a war.
He also suffers the anger directed towards him from Stanhope which is unfair and at times mentally abusive. However, it does not follow that Stanhope's bullying automatically places him into the 'bad guy' category. Due to an excellent performance by James Norton, it is possible to completely understand his disjointed behavior. It is a realistic portrayal of the complexity of the human psyche which so frequently fluctuates between what is considered typically 'good' and 'bad' behavior.
The play is performed on a single set which emphasises the claustrophobic experience of life in the trenches. You'd have thought watching two hours and forty minutes of this would be a grueling experience, however, the characters are so richly dynamic that it's easy to become involved in the narrative and not notice the time pass.
It is nearly a century since The Great War and so few of us have any real connection with it today. Real men were subject to extraordinarily cruel conditions and it is important that we take the time to reflect upon the incredible sacrifices they made. Journey's End provides a means for that reflection.
The fierce sound of artillery fire sends shivers down the spine and completely serves to give a moments snapshot of the environment that soldiers were subject to.
A recommendation I would make if you wish to see this production is to try and get tickets near the front. I was frustrated to begin with that I couldn't see the expression on the characters faces (a reminder of the limitations of theatre, the frustration is equivalent to watching a feature film shot entirely from one angle). Despite this I still became emotionally involved with the characters and was moved to tears at the poignant ending.

1 comment:

  1. You can also see this review here: http://www.staffs.ac.uk/schools/art_and_design/journalism/staffslive/wordpress/2011/03/30/review-olivier-nominated-journeys-end-comes-to-regent-theatre/

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