Instead of writing a play that is about the combat, Sherriff chose to focus on the men and their feelings. The most striking part was that he could have chosen any group of soldiers on either side of No Man’s Land and still had the same play, the same feelings and the same message.

Sometimes you have to read something funny or say something humorous to kill the boredom and drabness of war or as an escape from reality. Do control your laughter on reading what Trotter is reciting. In this private conversation on the subject of Raleigh's idolization of Stanhope, Osborne and Stanhope touch on the theme of heroism. Having looked up to Stanhope at school, Raleigh and Raleigh's sister turned him into a hero. However, Stanhope reveals in this dialogue his concern that Raleigh will see Stanhope for who he is truly is, having been damaged by the effects of war. Osborne sees things differently, and has faith that Raleigh will continue to see him as a hero, despite Stanhope's drinking and temper. Osborne describes the madness of war when describing how German soldiers allowed the British to rescue a wounded soldier in no man's land, while the next day the two sides shelled each other heavily. He describes the war as "silly". I read this play for my dissertation, and I really enjoyed it. I had watched the 2017 movie adaption with Sam Clafin and Asa Butterfield before reading the play so I knew what was going to happen. If you haven't watched the movie I would highly recommend it. It's very moving.

Stanhope is angry that Raleigh has been allowed to join him and describes the boy as a hero-worshipper. As Stanhope is in a relationship with Raleigh's sister Madge, he is concerned that Raleigh will write home and inform his sister of Stanhope's drinking. Stanhope tells Osborne that he will censor Raleigh's letters so this will not happen; Osborne does not approve. Journey’s End is an extremely claustrophobic play, set in the trenches in March 1918 as the war is drawing to a close. It tells the story of a group of officers and their commander over a course of three days. Apparently R.C Sherriff intended the play to be called ‘Suspense’ or ‘Waiting’ and, I have to say, they both would have been perfect titles for this. Sherriff also wrote prose. A novelised version of Journey's End, co-written with Vernon Bartlett, was published in 1930. [17] His 1939 novel, The Hopkins Manuscript is an H. G. Wells-influenced post-apocalyptic story about an earth devastated because of a collision with the Moon. [18] Its sober language and realistic depiction of an average man coming to terms with a ruined England is said [ citation needed] to have been an influence on later science fiction authors such as John Wyndham and Brian Aldiss. The Fortnight in September, an earlier novel, published in 1931, is a rather more plausible story about a Bognor holiday enjoyed by a lower-middle-class family from Dulwich. [19] It was nominated by Kazuo Ishiguro as a book to 'inspire, uplift and offer escape' in a list compiled by The Guardian during the COVID-19 pandemic, describing it as "just about the most uplifting, life-affirming novel I can think of right now". [20] Osborne and Raleigh discuss how slowly time passes at the front, and the fact that both of them played rugby before the war and that Osborne was a schoolmaster before he signed up to fight. While Raleigh appears interested, Osborne points out that it is of little use now.

The officers only get to sleep in short stints of two to three hours. On waking up, they have their tea and then immediately head for the trenches for duty. The cook too sleeps in his dugout and is always being called by one officer or another to serve breakfast, lunch or dinner or tea with jam Often it is the futility and senselessness of war that makes you appreciate the value of life and the beauty of nature which you earlier might not have. In how many colours have you seen the sun rising and setting? Read how Osborne feels in the following quote: After recovering from his wounds, Sherriff worked as an insurance adjuster from 1918 to 1928 at Sun Insurance Company, London. [9] 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.When Stanhope enters the dugout, he’s stunned to see Raleigh. Rather than embracing him, he simply asks how he got here. He then turns his attention to Osborne and Trotter, another officer, and the group sits down to eat together. Eventually, the fourth officer of Stanhope’s infantry, Hibbert, enters and claims that he doesn’t know if he can eat because of his neuralgia. This obviously annoys Stanhope, who urges Hibbert to eat, but Hibbert goes to bed. “Another little worm trying to wriggle home,” Stanhope says. Laurence Olivier starred as Stanhope in the first performance of "Journey's End" in 1928; the play was an instant stage success and remains a remarkable anti-war classic.

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.

Second Lieutenant Raleigh, a wide-eyed young man, joins the company after requesting to be stationed near Captain Stanhope. Stanhope (whom he calls by the familiar name Dennis) is dating his sister Madge. He figures that Stanhope will be happy to see a familiar face; instead, he’s enraged that Raleigh would intrude on his life. But the real reason for his objection is that he fears Raleigh will write to his sister that her fiancé is becoming an alcoholic. Raleigh can’t believe what the last three years of military service have done to the previously kind and light-hearted Stanhope. The play is the basis for the film Aces High (1976), although the action was switched from the infantry to the Royal Flying Corps. By the next afternoon preparations for the raid had been completed. A gap had been made in the barbed wire between the lines by trench mortars. The Germans, to let the British know they realized what was coming, had gone out and hung red rags on the gap, and they had zeroed in their machine guns on the gap. Stanhope tried to get the raid called off, but the colonel insisted that it was necessary. The mortars laid down a barrage of smoke shells to hide the rush of the raid. While Osborne and his party went to the German parapet and kept the way clear, Raleigh and another group of men clambered into the trench to capture a prisoner.