Journey's End

Synopsis

David Grindley's international multi-award winning production of R.C. Sherriff's masterpiece Journey's End is a must see of British theatre and returns to the Duke of York's Theatre, London for a limited summer season.

Based on Sherriff's  own experience in the trenches, Journey's End is a gripping tale about ordinary men in extraordinary circumstances with a compelling insight of how in the face of adversity, the human spirit will always triumph.

In November 1915, Sherriff volunteered and was granted a post in the East Surrey Regiment. Arriving at the Front Line, aged 20, on the 7th October 1916, he served at Vimy and Loos. Sherriff was severely wounded at Passchendaele, near Ypres, in 1917 by a shell which exploded close-by, and was sent back to England, where he remained for the rest of the war. Sherriff was awarded the Military Cross for his bravery during the war

Journey's End is set in St Quentin in 1917. Eighteen-year-old 2nd Lieutenant Raleigh is the new arrival in the company commanded by his former schoolboy friend, Captain Stanhope. There's only three years between them, but a lifetime of experience separates the pair as Raleigh discovers that the man in army greens is much changed from the boy he left behind in cricketing whites.

David Grindley's  acclaimed production of Journey's End premiered in 2004. From its initial twelve-week season at the Comedy Theatre from January 2004, it transferred to the Playhouse Theatre and the Duke of York's Theatre, finally closing on 18 February 2005.

A touring company took the same production to over 30 venues across Britain in 2004 and 2005 and back to London, to the New Ambassadors Theatre from September 2005 to January 2006.

Grindley's production of Journey's End received its Broadway debut in 2007 and won the 2007 Tony Award for Best Revival. 

There are only 55 performances at the Duke of York's Theatre this summer so book your Journey's End tickets now!

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 25 July 2011

David Grindley’s outstanding revival of RC Sherriff’s classic 1929 First World War play Journey's End has been a staple of the touring repertoire since its first West End season at the Comedy eleven years ago.

And, after this limited season, it returns to the road in Glasgow and Aberdeen in September, playing theatres from Milton Keynes to Cheltenham, Salford and Nottingham. You feel that, with our troops still active, and vulnerable, in Iraq and Afghanistan, the play still brings home the humanity, and horrors, of service abroad.

We are in the officers’ dugout near St Quentin in 1918, just before the last great German offensive. Everything is bleak about the sandbagged design of Jonathan Fensom, the murky lighting of Jason Taylor, the vile food (lumpy porridge and dubious cutlets) and the humour of the officers. But you can cut the tension with a knife.

The pivotal characters are the schoolmaster and rugby-playing Li...

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Latest User Review

Elizabeth Stone - 25 March 2012:

I've read and seen Journey's End many times, im just in love with the story, and I admire how Raleigh worships Stanhope, and see's him as an idol- I think that's a great relationship, and It had been portrayed excellently in this performance. Well done!...

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