''Journey's End'' is a 1928
drama
Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...
tic
play
Play most commonly refers to:
* Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment
* Play (theatre), a work of drama
Play may refer also to:
Computers and technology
* Google Play, a digital content service
* Play Framework, a Java framework
* P ...
by English playwright
R. C. Sherriff, set in the trenches near
Saint-Quentin, Aisne
Saint-Quentin (; ; ) is a city in the Aisne Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, northern France. It has been identified as the ''Augusta Veromanduorum'' of antiquity. It is named after Saint Quentin, Saint Quentin of Amiens, wh ...
, towards the end of the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. The story plays out in the officers'
dugout of a
British Army
The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
infantry company from 18 to 21 March 1918, providing a glimpse of the officers' lives in the last few days before
Operation Michael.
The play was first performed at the
Apollo Theatre in London by the
Incorporated Stage Society on 9 December 1928, starring a young
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier ( ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director. He and his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud made up a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the m ...
, and soon moved to other West End theatres for a two-year run. It was included in
Burns Mantle's ''The Best Plays of 1928–1929''. The piece quickly became internationally popular, with numerous productions and tours in English and other languages. A 1930
film version was followed by other adaptations, and the play set a high standard for other works dealing with similar themes, and influenced playwrights including
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...
. It was Sherriff's seventh play. He considered calling it ''Suspense'' or ''Waiting'', but eventually found a title in the closing line of a chapter of an unidentified book, "It was late in the evening when we came at last to our journey's end."
Plot summary
Act I
Monday, 18 March 1918: evening. In the British trenches facing
Saint-Quentin, Captain Hardy converses with Lieutenant Osborne, an older man and
public school master, who has come to relieve him. Hardy jokes about the behaviour of Captain Stanhope, who has turned to alcohol to cope with the stress that the war has caused him. While Hardy jokes, Osborne defends Stanhope and describes him as "the best company commander we've got".
Private Mason, a servant cook, often forgets about ingredients and key parts of the food that he prepares for the officers. He is really part of the infantry but the company has let him be a part-time cook.
Second Lieutenant Trotter is a rotund officer
commissioned from the ranks who likes his food; he cannot stand the war and counts down each hour that he serves in the front line by drawing circles onto a piece of paper and then colouring them in.
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.
Raleigh admits that he requested to be sent to Stanhope's company. Osborne hints to Raleigh that Stanhope will not be the same person he knew from school, as the experiences of war have changed him; however, Raleigh does not seem to understand.
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.
Stanhope has a keen sense of duty and feels that he must continue to serve rather than take leave to which he is entitled. He criticises another soldier, Second Lieutenant Hibbert, whom he thinks is faking
neuralgia
Neuralgia (Greek ''neuron'', "nerve" + ''algos'', "pain") is pain in the distribution of a nerve or nerves, as in intercostal nerve, intercostal neuralgia, trigeminal neuralgia, and glossopharyngeal nerve, glossopharyngeal neuralgia.
Classifica ...
in the eye so that he can be sent home instead of continuing fighting.
Osborne puts a tired and somewhat drunk Stanhope to bed. Stanhope, as well as the other officers, refers to Osborne as "Uncle".
Act II
Scene 1
Tuesday, 19 March 1918: morning. Trotter and Mason converse about the bacon rashers which the company has to eat. Trotter talks about how the start of spring makes him feel youthful; he also talks about the hollyhocks which he has planted. These conversations are a way of escaping the trenches and the reality of the war.
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.
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".
Stanhope announces that the barbed wire around the trenches needs to be mended. Information gathered from a captured German indicates that an
enemy attack is planned to begin on Thursday morning, only two days away.
Stanhope confiscates a letter from Raleigh, insisting on his right to censor it. Stanhope is in a relationship with Raleigh's sister and is worried that, in the letter, Raleigh will reveal Stanhope's growing alcoholism. Full of self-loathing, Stanhope accedes to Osborne's offer to read the letter for him. The letter is, in fact, full of praise for Stanhope. The scene ends with Stanhope quietly demurring from Osborne's suggestion to re-seal the envelope.
Scene 2
Tuesday, 19 March 1918: afternoon. In a meeting with the Sergeant Major it is announced that the attack is taking place on Thursday. Stanhope and the Sergeant-Major discuss battle plans. The Colonel relays orders that the General wants a raid to take place on the German trench prior to the attack, "a surprise daylight raid", all previous raids having been made under cover of darkness, and that they want to be informed of the outcome by 7 p.m. Stanhope states that such a plan is absurd, and that the General and his staff merely want this so their dinner will not be delayed.
The Colonel agrees with Stanhope but says that orders are orders, and they must be obeyed. Later, it is stated that in a similar raid, after the British artillery bombardment, the Germans had tied red rag to the gaps in the barbed wire so that their soldiers knew exactly where to train their machine guns.
It is decided that Osborne and Raleigh will be the officers to go on the raid, despite the fact that Raleigh has only recently entered the war.
Hibbert complains to Stanhope about the neuralgia he states he has been suffering from. Stanhope replies: "it would be better to die from the pain, than from being shot for desertion". Hibbert maintains that he does have neuralgia and the right to leave the battlefield to seek treatment, but when Stanhope threatens to shoot him if he goes, Hibbert breaks down crying. He says "Go on then, shoot!", suggesting that he would rather die than stay on the battlefield. The two soldiers admit to each other that they feel exactly the same way, and are struggling to cope with the stresses that the war is putting on them. Stanhope comforts Hibbert by saying they can go on duty together.
Osborne reads aloud to Trotter from
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet, mathematician, photographer and reluctant Anglicanism, Anglican deacon. His most notable works are ''Alice ...
's ''
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...
''; another attempt to escape from the realities of the war. The scene ends with the idealistic Raleigh, who is untouched by the war, stating that it is "frightfully exciting" that he has been picked for the raid.
Act III
Scene 1
Wednesday, 20 March 1918: afternoon. There is confirmation that the raid is still going ahead. The Colonel states that a German soldier needs to be captured so that intelligence can be extracted from him. Osborne admits to Stanhope that he knows he is probably not coming back, and asks Stanhope to look after his most cherished possessions and send them to his wife if he does not return after the raid. In the minutes before going over the top, Raleigh and Osborne talk about home – the
New Forest
The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featu ...
and the town of
Lyndhurst – to pass the time. Smoke-bombs are fired, the soldiers move towards the German trench, and a young German soldier is captured. However, Stanhope finds out that Osborne has been killed although Raleigh has survived.
Stanhope sarcastically states, "How awfully nice – if the Brigadier's pleased", when the Colonel's first concern is whether information has been gathered, not whether all the soldiers have returned safely. Six of ten
other ranks have been killed.
Scene 2
Wednesday, 20 March 1918: night. Trotter, Stanhope, and Hibbert drink and talk about women. They all appear to be enjoying themselves until Hibbert is annoyed when Stanhope tells him to go to bed, and he tells Stanhope to go to bed instead, then Stanhope suddenly becomes angry and begins to shout at Hibbert, and tells him to clear off and get out.
Stanhope also becomes angry at Raleigh, who did not eat with the officers that night but preferred to eat with his men. Stanhope is offended by this, and Raleigh eventually admits that he feels he cannot eat while he thinks that Osborne is dead, and his body is in no man's land. Stanhope is angry because Raleigh had seemed to imply that Stanhope did not care about Osborne's death because Stanhope was eating and drinking. Stanhope yells at Raleigh that he drinks to cope with the fact that Osborne died, to forget. Stanhope asks to be left alone and angrily tells Raleigh to leave.
Scene 3
Thursday, 21 March 1918: towards dawn. The German attack on the British trenches approaches, and the Sergeant Major tells Stanhope they should expect heavy losses. When it arrives, Hibbert is reluctant to get out of bed and into the trenches.
A message is relayed to Stanhope telling him that Raleigh has been injured by a shell and that his spine is damaged, meaning he cannot move his legs. Stanhope orders that Raleigh be brought into his dugout. He comforts Raleigh while Raleigh lies in bed. Raleigh says that he is cold and that it is becoming dark; Stanhope moves the candle to the bed and goes deeper into the dugout to fetch a blanket, but, by the time he returns, Raleigh has died.
The shells continue to explode in the background. Stanhope receives a message that he is needed. He gets up to leave and, after he has exited, a mortar hits the dugout causing it to collapse and entomb Raleigh's corpse.
Productions (professional)
Sherriff had trouble getting ''Journey's End'' produced in the West End, writing that "Every management in London had turned the play down. They said people didn't want war plays
..'How can I put on a play with no leading lady?' one
heatre managerhad asked complainingly."
[ Sherriff used ''No Leading Lady'' as the title of his autobiography, published in 1968.
Geoffrey Dearmer of the Incorporated Stage Society suggested that Sherriff send the script to ]George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...
, because a good word from him would convince the ISS committee to stage it.[ Shaw replied that, like other sketches of trench life, it was a "useful orrectiveto the romantic conception of war", and that "As a 'slice of life' – horribly abnormal life – I should say let it be performed by all means".][
]
''Journey's End'' opened as a semi-staged production running for two nights at the Apollo Theatre.[ It starred ]Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier ( ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director. He and his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud made up a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the m ...
, then only 21, offered the role of Stanhope by the then equally unknown director James Whale
James Whale (22 July 1889 – 29 May 1957) was an English film director, theatre director and actor, who spent the greater part of his career in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood. He is best remembered for several horror films: ''Fra ...
.[ Under a new producer, Maurice Browne, the play soon transferred to the ]Savoy Theatre
The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre was designed by C. J. Phipps for Richard D'Oyly Carte and opened on 10 October 1881 on a site previously occupied by the Savoy ...
where it ran for three weeks starting on 21 January 1929. The entire cast from the Apollo reprised their roles ( George Zucco playing Osborne and Maurice Evans Raleigh) except for Olivier, who had secured another role and was replaced by Colin Clive as Stanhope. The play was extremely well received: in the words of Whale's biographer James Curtis, it "managed to coalesce, at the right time and in the right manner, the impressions of a whole generation of men who were in the war and who had found it impossible, through words or deeds, to adequately express to their friends and families what the trenches had been like". It transferred to the Prince of Wales Theatre
The Prince of Wales Theatre is a West End theatre in Coventry Street, near Leicester Square in London. It was established in 1884 and rebuilt in 1937, and extensively refurbished in 2004 by Sir Cameron Mackintosh, its current owner. The theatre ...
, where it ran for a further two years.
Whale travelled to the United States to direct the Broadway production in 1930 at Henry Miller's Theatre.[ Colin Keith-Johnston played Stanhope, and Leon Quartermaine Osborne.][ By late 1929 the work was played by 14 companies in English and 17 in other languages, in London, New York, Paris (in English), Stockholm, Berlin, Rome, Vienna, Madrid, and Budapest, and in Canada, Australia, and South Africa.][ The first revival of the work was in 1934, with Horne, Stoker and Smith reprising their original roles, and Reginald Tate as Stanhope. The first New York revival was in 1939, with Keith-Johnston again playing Stanhope. There were further London revivals in 1950 (which won enthusiastic praise from Field Marshal Montgomery) and 1972. The play was staged as the final production of the Edinburgh Gateway Company during the ]Edinburgh International Festival
The Edinburgh International Festival is an annual arts festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, spread over the final three weeks in August. Notable figures from the international world of music (especially european classical music, classical music) and ...
in August 1965.
In 2004, the play was again revived in London, directed by David Grindley. From its initial twelve-week season at the Comedy Theatre from January 2004, it transferred to the Playhouse Theatre
The Playhouse Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, located in Northumberland Avenue, near Trafalgar Square, central London. The Theatre was built by F. H. Fowler and Hill with a seating capacity of 1,200. It was rebuilt in ...
and the Duke of York's Theatre
The Duke of York's Theatre is a West End theatre in St Martin's Lane, in the City of Westminster, London. It was built for Frank Wyatt and his wife, Violet Melnotte, who retained ownership of the theatre until her death in 1935. Designed by ...
, 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 received its Broadway debut in 2007. Starring Hugh Dancy, Boyd Gaines, Jefferson Mays and Stark Sands, it opened in New York at the Belasco Theatre on 22 February 2007 and closed on 10 June after 125 performances. Grindley's production was revived in 2011 for a UK tour from March to June, and transferred to the Duke of York's Theatre
The Duke of York's Theatre is a West End theatre in St Martin's Lane, in the City of Westminster, London. It was built for Frank Wyatt and his wife, Violet Melnotte, who retained ownership of the theatre until her death in 1935. Designed by ...
in the West End from July to September. The Sell A Door Theatre Company ran this play at the Greenwich Theatre until 17 February 2013. During 2014 it was presented at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton; directed by David Thacker, it featured David Birrell, Richard Graham and, as Stanhope, James Dutton.
Casts
1928
*Captain Hardy – David Horne
*Lieutenant Osborne – George Zucco
*Private Mason – Alexander Field
*2nd Lieutenant Raleigh – Maurice Evans
*Captain Stanhope – Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier ( ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director. He and his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud made up a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the m ...
*2nd Lieutenant Trotter – Melville Cooper
George Melville Cooper (15 October 1896 – 13 March 1973) was an English actor. His many notable screen roles include the High Sheriff of Nottingham in ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' (1938), Mr. Collins in ''Pride and Prejudice'' (1940) and ...
*2nd Lieutenant Hibbert – Robert Speaight
*The Colonel – H. G. Stoker
*The Company Sergeant Major – Reginald Smith
*A German Soldier – Geoffrey Wincott
*Lance-Corporal Broughton – Richard Caldicot
Richard Caldicot (7 October 1908 – 16 October 1995) was an English actor famed for his role of Commander (later Captain) Povey in the BBC radio series ''The Navy Lark''. He also appeared often on television, memorably as the obstetrician del ...
2011 tour and West End revival
*Hardy/Sergeant Major – Tim Chipping
*Osborne – Dominic Mafham
*Mason – Tony Turner
*Raleigh – Graham Butler
*Stanhope – James Norton
*Trotter – Christian Patterson
*Hibbert – Simon Harrison
*Colonel – Nigel Hastings
*Private – Daniel Hanna
*German Soldier – Andy Daniel
*Broughton – Mike Hayley
In the second part of the 2011 tour, after the West End run, Nick Hendrix took over the role of Stanhope and Simon Dutton the role of Osborne.
Productions (amateur)
Over the years there have been numerous amateur productions, the all-male cast making the play a particularly attractive choice for boys' schools, scout troops and other all-male environments. The British Scout Association
The Scout Association is the largest organisation in the Scout Movement in the Scouting in the United Kingdom, United Kingdom. Following the rapid development of the Scouting, Scout Movement from 1907, The Scout Association was formed in 1910 ...
owns a share of the rights to the play.
During the 1930s, the Pavilion Theatre in Selsey
Selsey () is a seaside town and civil parishes in England, civil parish, about south of Chichester, West Sussex, England.
Selsey lies at the southernmost point of the Manhood Peninsula, almost cut off from mainland Sussex by the sea. It is in ...
, Sussex, staged several productions of ''Journey's End''. Sherriff (who had a holiday home nearby) attended a rehearsal in 1933, and advised the cast before his departure to Hollywood.
On 15 April 1939, Dirk Bogarde
Sir Dirk Bogarde (born Derek Jules Gaspard Ulric Niven van den Bogaerde; 28 March 1921 – 8 May 1999) was an English actor, novelist and screenwriter. Initially a matinée idol in films such as ''Doctor in the House (film), Doctor in the Hous ...
's first starring role was as Raleigh in a production of ''Journey's End'' with Newick Amateur Dramatic Society in Sussex.
In January 1944, during the Second World War, a production was staged by members of the Royal Natal Carbineers at El Khatatba, Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
. Other productions were staged by British prisoners in Changi Prison
Changi Prison Complex, often known simply as Changi Prison, is a prison complex in the namesake district of Changi in the eastern part of Singapore. It is the oldest and largest prison in the country, covering an area of about . Opened in 193 ...
, Singapore (February 1943); at Tamarkan, Thailand
Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
, a Japanese labour camp on the Burma Railway (July 1943); in Stalag 344
Stalag VIII-B was most recently a German Army (Wehrmacht), German Army administered prisoner-of-war camp#Military District VIII (Breslau), POW camp during World War II, later renumbered Stalag-344, located near the village of Lamsdorf (now Łambin ...
, near Lamsdorf, Germany (July 1944); and in Campo P.G. 75, near Bari
Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...
, Italy.
In 2015 the Shute Theatre and Arts Guild (STAG) staged a production of the play in St Michael's Church, Shute, Devon
Shute is a village, parish and former manor located west of Axminster in East Devon, off the A35 road.
It is surrounded by farmland and woodland beneath Shute Hill. St Michael's Church dates from the 13th Century and contains many monuments t ...
, directed by Elisabeth Miller.
In August 2018 a production was staged to commemorate the end of the First World War at St John's School, Leatherhead, and the Leatherhead Theatre, directed by Graham Pountney.
In September 2018 a production was staged by Fintry
Fintry is a small riverside village in Stirlingshire, central Scotland. It is located south-west of Stirling and around north of Glasgow.
Landscape
The village of Fintry sits by the Endrick Water in a strath between the Campsie Fells and the ...
Amateur Dramatic Society (FADS), in "The Studio", a converted barn outside Killearn
Killearn (, from orig. ''Ceann Fhearann'', "Head/End of (the) Land/Territory"; until the 15th century when ''Ceann'' was replaced by ''Cill''; denoting the presence of a house of worship)Knight "What's in a Name"(August 2014) (pdf) ''Killearn C ...
, Stirling.
Adaptations
Film
In 1930, James Whale directed a film by the same name. based on the play, starring Colin Clive, David Manners and Ian Maclaren. A German remake, '' The Other Side'' (''Die andere Seite''), was directed by Heinz Paul
Heinz Paul (13 August 1893 – 14 March 1983) was a German screenwriter, film producer and director. His speciality was military film; he also filmed various pseudo-documentaries. He was married to the actress Hella Moja.
Selected filmography D ...
in 1931. The play is the basis for the film ''Aces High Aces High may refer to:
*Aces High (comics), ''Aces High'' (comics), a comic book series by EC Comics
*Aces High (video game), ''Aces High'' (video game), a combat flight simulator/massively multiplayer online game
*Aces High (film), ''Aces High'' ...
'' (1976), although the action was switched from the infantry to the Royal Flying Corps
The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...
. A second namesake British film adaptation
A film adaptation transfers the details or story of an existing source text, such as a novel, into a feature film. This transfer can involve adapting most details of the source text closely, including characters or plot points, or the original sou ...
was released in 2017, with a wider theatrical release in the spring of 2018.
Television
The play was televised by the BBC Television Service
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...
, live from its Alexandra Palace
Alexandra Palace is an entertainment and sports venue in North London, situated between Wood Green and Muswell Hill in the London Borough of Haringey. A listed building, Grade II listed building, it is built on the site of Tottenham Wood and th ...
studios, on 11 November 1937, in commemoration of Armistice Day
Armistice Day, later known as Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth and Veterans Day in the United States, is commemorated every year on 11 November to mark Armistice of 11 November 1918, the armistice signed between th ...
. Condensed into a one-hour version by the producer George More O'Ferrall
Edward George More O'Ferrall (4 July 1907 – 18 March 1982) was a British film and television producer and director, and actor.
Biography
More O'Ferrall was born in Bristol, England, to an aristocratic Anglo-Irish family. He was educated at B ...
, some short sequences from the film '' Westfront 1918'' (1930) by G. W. Pabst were used for scene-setting purposes. Reginald Tate starred as Stanhope, with Basil Gill as Osborne, Norman Pierce as Trotter, Wallace Douglas as Raleigh, J. Neil More as the Colonel, R. Brooks Turner as the Company Sergeant-Major, Alexander Field as Mason, Reginald Smith as Hardy, and Olaf Olsen as the young German soldier. Because it was broadcast live, and the technology to record television programmes did not exist at the time, no visual records of the production survive other than still photographs.
The play was adapted for television in 1988, starring Jeremy Northam
Jeremy Philip Northam (born 1 December 1961) is an English actor. His film credits include '' The Net'' (1995), '' Emma'' (1996), '' An Ideal Husband'' (1999), '' Amistad'' (1997), ''The Winslow Boy'' (1999), ''Gosford Park'' (2001) and '' Eni ...
as Stanhope, Edward Petherbridge as Osborne, and Timothy Spall as Trotter. It held close to the original script although there were changes, the most obvious being the depiction on camera of the raid, which happens off-stage in the theatre production.
Radio
A radio adaptation by Peter Watts was produced for BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
's ''Saturday Night Theatre
__NOTOC__
''Saturday Night Theatre'' was a long-running radio drama strand on the BBC Home Service and its successor, BBC Radio 4. Launched in April 1943 the strand showcased feature-length, middlebrow single plays on Saturday evenings for mor ...
'' in November 1970, featuring Martin Jarvis as Captain Stanhope.
Legacy
Other plays of the period dealing with the war tended to be judged by the standard of ''Journey's End.'' The play and its characters also influenced other writers. In 1930, Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...
briefly played the role of Stanhope while on tour in the Far East. He did not consider his performance successful, writing afterwards that his audience "politely watched me take a fine part in a fine play and throw it into the alley." However, he was "strongly affected by the poignancy of the play itself", and was inspired to write ''Post-Mortem
An autopsy (also referred to as post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death ...
'', his own "angry little vilification of war", shortly afterwards.[Lesley, p. 140]
An alternative-timeline version of Raleigh appears in the 1995 novel ''The Bloody Red Baron
''Anno Dracula: The Bloody Red Baron'', or simply ''The Bloody Red Baron'', is a 1995 alternate history/Horror fiction, horror novel by British author Kim Newman. It is the second book in the Anno Dracula series, ''Anno Dracula'' series and take ...
'' by Kim Newman. The final series of the British comedy programme ''Blackadder
''Blackadder'' is a series of four Period piece, period British sitcoms - ''The Black Adder'', ''Blackadder II'', ''Blackadder the Third'' and ''Blackadder Goes Forth'' - plus several one-off instalments, which originally aired on BBC1 from 19 ...
'' (''Blackadder Goes Forth
''Blackadder Goes Forth'' is the fourth series of the BBC sitcom ''Blackadder'', written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, which aired from 28 September to 2 November 1989 on BBC One, BBC1. The series placed the recurring characters of Captain B ...
'') focuses on the same theme and setting, sometimes with heavy parallels. In '' Withnail & I'' the out-of-work actor Marwood (played by Paul McGann
Paul John McGann ( ; born 14 November 1959) is an English actor. He came to prominence for portraying Percy Toplis in the television serial '' The Monocled Mutineer'' (1986), then starred in the dark comedy '' Withnail and I'' (1987), which wa ...
) is seen reading a copy of the play in the holiday cottage and goes on to win a role in a touring production by the close of the film.
The play is part of the British GCSE English literature qualification that is studied and tested in secondary schools, specifically the Cambridge IGCSE and Pearson Edexcel IGCSE specifications for English.
Awards and nominations
;Awards
* Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Play
* Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play
References
Sources
*
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External links
*
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{{Navboxes
, title = Awards for ''Journey's End''
, list =
{{DramaDesk PlayRevival 2001–2025
{{TonyAward PlayRevival 2001–2025
1928 plays
Broadway plays
Drama Desk Award–winning plays
Plays by R. C. Sherriff
Tony Award–winning plays
West End plays
Plays about World War I
British plays adapted into films