Set in a trench dug-out just before the last great assault by the Germans, Journey’s End has a quiet and humbling authority about it that can only come from first-hand experience. It has gained fame amongst students as a GCSE text, something which was unfortunately reflected in the slightly irritating audience.

However, the power of the play itself lies in showing the constant fear and monotony of life in the trenches during World War One. The play starts off through Hardy promising all the excitement of an earwig race, and it passes with uneventful watches, insipid meals, sleep, and conversations of everything from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to ones about women. It is uncompromising in its depiction of the slowness of time in war and in the turgidity and fear of it all. However, Sherriff apparently did not intend the play to be read primarily as a statement against war, but instead to be a study of men under pressure, motivated only by a strong sense of duty. Therefore, there is no hiding place in the play for bad acting, and in Christopher Poel’s production, there was thankfully no need for any hiding places.

Despite a slow start as the play began to develop, Hugh Wyld’s entrance as the idolising and naive Raleigh put to rest any fears over the acting. It was his exchanges with Will Attenborough’s Stanhope where the play’s drama was at its most palpable. Wyld’s progression from innocence to dawning realisation was expertly done, and was complemented by accomplished performances from the cast around him. The erratic and complex nature of Stanhope – the man driven to alcoholism through stress and duty, and the brief glimpses of the schoolboy he used to be – were caught compellingly by Attenborough. His pithy and sarcastic response to the Colonel’s concern over information rather than men, “It’ll be awfully nice the Brigadier’s pleased” displayed Stanhope’s character beautifully. At times though, his self-loathing outbursts were too exaggerated, but it was nevertheless impossible not to feel and experience the ever increasing awkwardness of his scenes with Raleigh. The cast as a whole though were all convincing in their roles: Joshua Stamp-Simon maturely played the level-headed and older Osborne, balancing his wry humour and his sincerity very capably, Liane Grant’s Trotter hinted at the hidden depth to Trotter’s character without ever fully exposing it, Stephen Bermingham captured Hibbert’s nauseating desperation to go home without melodramatics, and Sam Gilbert provided welcomed chirpiness as Mason.

As for the set-up of the stage, while ultimately it served its purpose, the use of a smoke machine throughout seemed needless and sometimes distracting. The set itself was understandably basic, but a little disappointing. Although difficult to do so, it never really felt like a World War One trench dug-out. These are minor complaints in an otherwise smooth production though.

There were times when the play felt too slow and so it never fully caught the sense of pathos present in Sherriff’s script. However, apart from this and a few other minor issues, the high quality of acting on show ensured that justice was done to Sherriff’s play. It showed the fragility of trench life in a respectful and accomplished manner that makes it well worth the, admittedly slightly lengthy, time.