“MY subject is war and the pity of war.” So said Wilfred Owen, poet of the Great War. Is it possible to write anything on this subject without it echoing that sentiment?

R C Sherriff’s play, Journey’s End, which opened at Ilkley Playhouse this week is a faithful and highly affecting rendition of the play with performances that will long remain in memories.

Entering the theatre we also enter the officer’s dug out: the set is wonderful, beautifully designed by Gordon Williamson and masterfully crafted by the Playhouse’s working party.

It features an earthen floor, bunks, uniforms and cherished photos – all the trappings of men of the last century and it is familiar too.

We know this space and we know what the world beyond it looks like too.

The play starts with a ‘changing of the guard’ as Captain Hardy, (Robson Stroud) hands over to Lieutenant Osborne (Dick Hebbert). The former is clearly less competent as an officer – he lacks attention to detail whilst Osborne feels like a safe pair of hands. The irony is that aptitude will make little difference. The contrast between the two men is beautifully played - the bluff and bluster versus the steady and organised.

A new officer is expected – the old guard hope for a fearless youngster and they get one. Raleigh (Patrick Campbell) is fresh from school and he is keen, excited and of course naïve. He is especially pleased to have been put in the same battalion as his idol Stanhope (Andy Price) – an older boy at his school and one time beau of his sister. There is a moment of tangible awkwardness and annoyance when Stanhope first sees him. Andy Price, as the battle weary, damaged Stanhope, manages convincingly to convey a breadth of emotions: embarrassment at the whiskey reliant soldier he has become, fury at having to deal with those less resilient than himself, rage at the thought of being unmasked as a weak man. In his scenes with the shell-shocked would-be shirker Hibbert (Patrick Hebbert) he is at once furious and compassionate. Giving Lt Hibbert a choice: “Die of the pain or be shot for desertion” the agony on both sides is obvious. Patrick plays Hibbert’s perturbation with great humanity, one can only sympathise and identify with him – of course he wants to escape.

John Wise’s archetypal General, asking if the men were cheerful before the ‘big push,’ only adds to the distress.

All of this pain is off-set by that most British of good humour – the soup is ‘yellow’ and ‘War without pepper is bloody awful’.

Richard Frost as Mason brings frequent charming relief in Pte Baldrick fashion. This is gallows humour and serves to offset the omnipresent world beyond the sandbags.

Yvette Huddleston’s direction allows this powerful drama to be performed with an intensity and a spirit redolent of all of our collected evocations of that period in history. There is no weak link in this production – except perhaps the directives of the Generals. It shouldn’t be missed.

- Becky Carter